Pokémon Z Version
by Kirbyte44
Summary: Much like the Pokémon Platinum of the sixth generation. In a world filled with Pokémon, two children set off on journeys to complete the Pokédex for Professor Sycamore. However, as they journey through Kalos, they become ensnared with Team Flare's affairs and find out just what their true purpose is. Not everything and one is the way it seems. Based off the past Manga series.
1. Red Mixed With Yellow

**Hello, everyone! Welcome to my rendition of Pokémon Z Version. You can think of it as the Pokémon Platinum of sixth generation. For those of you that have not played Pokémon X/Y and don't want spoilers, then PLEASE close the page right now.**

**As for those of you that have played X/Y, welcome once again to Pokémon Z. This story will follow the story line of X/Y with some both minor and major changes. As you can tell from the title, it won't be just about Xerneas and Yveltal. Zygarde will be included as well. **

**Why am I writing this? Well, I loved playing X/Y and I LOVED the characters. Maybe not so much the rivals, but I did really love Team Flare and Lysandre. He was different than the earlier villains. Obvious, but different. I really loved AZ too and his struggle to find his best friend. But after all of it, X/Y felt a little incomplete to me. Like there should be a tad bit more stacked onto it. That would be why I am writing this. I should also mention that I'm going based off the characters in the manga specials, not the video game. So think of it as if the creators of the manga decided to write a Z version.**

**How come I'm not using the main character (Calem) for the story? I feel as if I made Red and Yellow have children and sent them off on an adventure, it would get readers more interested and I would be able to do much more with them than just Calem, a sort of flat character in my opinion. **

**Anyway, I'm sure I've bored you all enough with my ramblings, so please, by all means, enjoy the story! Updates should be at least once every week. If you like it or find it interesting, don't forget to leave a review and tell your friends about it. Arceus knows all the critiquing I need for a story like this -.-" **

**Er, not that I'm begging or anything ^^;**

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Pokémon Z Version

Chapter 1

Red Mixed With Yellow

Deep within the universe lies a mystical, far-off world that's populated by both human and the strange, mysterious creatures called Pokémon. They dig around in our planet's crust, swim through our oceans, frolic through our lands, and fly through our skies, co-existing with us. They've been around for as long as anyone can remember. Since the beginning of time, humans have taken to keeping some Pokémon as friends and pets. Others, typically called Trainers, would pit their Pokémon against one another in battles.

Despite man being able to exist alongside Pokémon, there have been some evil, wicked people that have used these creatures for their own, selfish reasons. At times, these selfish reasons brought the world to the brink of calamity, but special children have always stood in the way and protected the world they love.

About 24 years ago, in a small region called Kanto, a young boy named Red got his start on his very own Pokémon journey. Not soon after setting out did Red's life change for the better and for the worse. On the journeys he made, he came across many Pokémon and many people. As he battled and fought at gyms, his life soon became intertwined with the works of Team Rocket. With every breath in his body, this boy fought alongside his friends to keep the world and Pokémon he loved so safe.

Following their defeat, he challenged the Pokémon League tournament and in the final round, pulled off an amazing victory against his rival, Blue. He later then went missing, having been challenged by the Elite Four. Thankfully, his friends, especially Yellow, were there to help him. After the Elite Four, Red teamed up with Mewtwo and faced the revival of Team Rocket, which he stomped out but suffered petrification. However, a wish by the Pokémon named Jirachi revived him and his friends.

Once the danger was all over, Red took to spending some time with Yellow. After a while, the two took to calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend, which was no surprise to anyone. The years passed and Red and Yellow continued their relationship until it finally turned into a full-blown marriage. People say that the two were the cutest couple they'd ever seen. Their wedding was in the nice, small, quiet grasses of Pallet Town and while Silver and Blue weren't exactly the mushy-gushy types, they still managed to attend the wedding much to their dismay.

Years went on and on and the two spent most of their days living in a nice house in Pallet Town. That is, until out of nowhere Yellow announced her pregnancy. The excited shouting of Red's upcoming fatherhood and the start of their family could still be heard by old residents of Pallet Town today.

"_We're gonna have a kid!" he shouted repeatedly. His Pikachu, Pika, cheered right alongside him. _

The months passed until finally, their young baby girl arrived. The couple promptly named her Amber as a combination of their names. The married couple enjoyed every second of raising their beautiful daughter. Well, except for when she woke them up in the middle of the night.

_Amber's cries of hunger and attention pierced through the quietness of the small house and immediately woke Red and Yellow up. They both rolled over and groaned. _

_Red slapped his hand over his face and turned to his lovely, yellow-haired wife. "Honey, who's turn is it?"_

_Yellow looked at her handsome husband and sighed. "I lost count after forty times…"_

"_Well," Red started as he slowly sat up and opened a drawer, searching through his Poké Balls. "I guess it's neither of us." He picked up a Poké Ball and opened it, calling out his Snorlax, Lax. "Alright, Lax, go cradle Amber."_

_Lax let out a long, uninterested yawn and scratched his hindquarters. _

"_If you take care of her, I'll give you a turkey leg…" Red promised him. _

_Lax's eyes suddenly opened wide and drool poured from his mouth like a gushing fountain. He slowly walked out of the room and down the hall to Amber's room at the orders of his trainer in hopes he wasn't actually joking this time about the turkey leg._

"_And if you even THINK about trying to eat her again, then you can forget about the turkey leg!"_

But as the days turned into months, which turned into years, Amber outgrew her constant crying. She became a nice, well-mannered little four year old. It was around that time that Red entrusted her with an egg of his Espeon and Green's Ditto.

_Yellow tapped on her husband's shoulder as he watched their daughter sit with her eyes locked on the chocolate colored egg in front of her. "Red, sweetie?" she asked. "Don't you think it's a little early for her to be learning this kind of responsibility?"_

"_Nah" Red smiled. "Look at her, she's already taking really good care of it! Somehow, I just get this feeling that she'll do great with this."_

_Yellow sighed and wrapped her arms around him. "I sure do hope you're right…"_

It was right around this time that Yellow became pregnant with another child. The second time around, Red was still happy, although Yellow was a little unsure, what with her daughter just getting the egg and all. But Amber seemed to keep to herself as long as she took care of the egg.

_It was a cold, stormy night. Yellow, deep in her sleep, rolled over to put her arm around he husband, but only succeeded in grabbing a few of the bed sheets. Her eyes quickly opened to her fingers rubbing them as she sat up and scanned the dark room. Pika and Chuchu were both curled up at the foot of the bed deep in a peaceful slumber. She slowly got out of bed, put a robe on over her pajamas and walked down the dark hallway. The booming thunder shook the house and caused her to jump a little as she started to frantically search for the arms of her husband. _

"_R- Red?" she called out. "Where are you?"_

_A small light shined from down the dark hallway that seemed to be coming out of Amber's room. She picked up the pace and came to her door only to see Red standing there. Yellow looked in with her husband and saw their four year old daughter's egg wrapped up in a multitude of blankets in an effort to keep it warm. However, Amber laid on her bed. While asleep it seemed, she was shivering cold as all of her blankets were wrapped around the egg. _

_Yellow looked at her husband and saw his face was twisted with worry and concern, but a faint smile was seen on his lips. He felt beside himself about his daughter, but saw how much she really cared about the egg, sacrificing her warmth for it. _

"_What do we do?" Red sighed. _

_Yellow took his hand into hers and pulled him into the room. "We help her."_

"_B- But" Red stammered. "She has to learn that sometimes you need to sacrifice things for what you love…"_

_Yellow looked back at him, first with shock but then with a soft smile. "I understand… But it can wait until she's older. She's only four right now." _

_Red nodded his head. "You're right. I'm going to go find some blankets for her." And with that he promptly walked out of the room and down the hallway. His feet came to a stop at a closet and trying to make too much noise, he slowly opened it and grabbed the biggest blanket he could find. The thunder boomed outside again and the rain began pounding harder on the window. As he made his way back to the bedroom, he was reminded of his journeys as a little kid. Memories began coming back of how it felt to catch his Poliwrath back when it was a little Poliwag. As the door of the room neared his approach, his body began shivering a little. Unoccupied by watching his daughter, his body finally felt how cold it was. _

_Once Red returned to his daughter's room, he saw his wife holding their daughter in her arms as the two slept. He laid down next to them, embraced them both in his arms and pulled the blanket over them. The three slept as a family through the cold, stormy night. _

That next morning, a new addition was added to their family. Amber's egg hatched into a healthy, baby female Eevee. And after a few months, another addition was added to the family. Yellow gave birth to a baby boy they named Orange in order to keep the tradition of combining Red and Yellow's names.

Amber welcomed her baby brother and he regularly took to spitting up on her, which only marked the beginning of their arguing. It took Orange time to mature, certainly much more than Amber. He reached the age of four and received no egg, unlike her sister who was already training her Eevee.

It was around age six that Orange was finally able to receive an egg.

"_Now, now, Orange, I want you to take very good care of this egg. Do you understand?"_

_Orange nodded at his father's stern words and smiled, grabbing his father's pant legs. "Can I have an egg now, daddy? Oh please, can I? Pretty please with sugar and an Igglybuff on top?!"_

_Red laughed and rubbed his son's hair. "Alright, alright, you can have your egg now." He reached back, picked up a yellow-colored egg, and handed it to him very carefully. "Now be very careful with that egg. It's from Pika and Chuchu, so it's very special. I was going to give you an egg of Vee and Ditto, but Pika and Chuchu insisted I give you this egg. You take real good care of it now, you hear?"_

_Orange gasped in awe and looked at the egg he held dearly in his hands. "I promise I'll take good care of it, daddy!"_

Unlike Amber, Orange took his egg everywhere he went. Much to Red and Yellow's dismay, he even took it in the bathroom with him. Taking the egg everywhere with him caused some problems as it was put in extreme danger at times.

_With a yawn, Red walked into the kitchen and scratched himself. He saw his daughter, Amber, and her Eevee, sitting at the table eating breakfast. Yellow was over at the stove, cooking some more food. His arms slowly wrapped around her as she cooked and a very passionate kiss was delivered to her cheek. "Good morning" he smiled. "Where's Orange?"_

"_Oh, I think he's outside on the swing set."_

_Red sat down at the table and pulled the morning paper in front of him. "Does he have his egg with him?" he asked. Slowly, his hands unfolded the paper and brought it up in front of his face to read._

"_Is that a trick question?" Yellow giggled. "He's always got that thing with him."_

_The newspaper suddenly fell from Red's hands as his eyes became fixated on the swing set outside, confirming his worst fears. Blood began to boil and rush through the man's veins as he somehow, in one motion, jumped over the table and ran outside. _

_Orange was in back of the swing, pushing his egg on it. He took notice of his dad rushing over to him and smiled, thinking it was all in an effort to congratulate him. "Daddy, look, me and eggy are bonding!"_

"_Orange!" Red screamed at the top of his lungs, but it was too late. The swing had come back down and Orange pushed it up with too much force. The egg flew from the swing seat and high into the air. Orange could sit there and watch as his egg flew through the air down towards its seemingly inevitable death. The only thing playing through his mind was the crushing sound of the egg hitting the ground and the possibly cry of the unborn Pokémon as it splattered all over the grass. _

"_Aero, grab it!" Red yelled as he whipped his Poké Ball at the ground in front of him. Aero appeared out of the ball and caught the egg carefully in his mouth just in time._

_Orange's face quickly shifted from worry and shock to happy. Aero flew down to Orange to give him the egg back, but his trainer's words stopped him. The air around them quieted and the wind fell to complete halt. He watched as his father's Pokémon took the egg away from him. "He probably just wants to check the egg for scratches… That's all…"_

"_No, Aero. Bring the egg to me." Red commanded sternly. _

_Aero placed the egg in Red's hands and was returned to the Poké Ball. Red looked at his son with great disappointment, turning his back on him and walking back into the house. _

"_D- Dad, where are you going?!" Orange faltered. _

"_I'm taking your egg away from you son. You're not old enough to take care of it._

_Tears immediately began welling up in his eyes and his voice started sounding shaky, on the brink of utter depression. "W- What?" he asked, not believing what he just heard. _

_Red stopped and turned around, his face burning red with anger. "Your actions today almost cost the life of this Pokémon Egg here. Do you understand that?"_

_Orange hiccupped and slowly started walking toward his father. "I promise I'll be more careful…" he pleaded._

"_Oh really? You promised all of those other times and look what happened today! You almost killed your Pokémon!" Red screamed at his son. _

_Yellow, Amber, and her Eevee could only watch silently as Red walked through the kitchen with an angry expression on his face and the egg in tow. Orange was left out in the yard, frozen with sadness and anger. His fists clenched as the tears rolled down his cheeks. Horrible thoughts of hatred started running through the young boy's mind. _

The two didn't speak for weeks. Family outings and meals were very awkward for everyone as Orange did everything possible to avoid interaction with his father. Red tried as hard as he could to get his son to come around, but he never did.

Later, sensing that the egg was about to hatch, Red quickly gave it back to his son in hopes that he could take better care of it now. Orange took the egg without so much as a thank-you and hatched it into a healthy, male Pichu, which he nicknamed Chuey.

Chuey seemed to bring out the best in Orange, making him smile again, which was something no one had seen out of him in weeks. However, whenever Red tried to talk to orange, both he and Chuey ignored him. Pika and Chuchu tried to get their son to come around, but just like his trainer, Chuey ignored them.

A few years later, Red was asked by some of the townspeople to investigate reports of a trapped Pokémon out nearby the cliffs. With Pika, Saur, Poli, Lax, Aero, and Gyara, Red set off to the dangerous cliffs one stormy day.

It was the last day the family ever saw their beloved father and husband, Red. Word got around about his disappearance and Yellow was devastated. She searched all around for him, but to no avail. Amber comforted her mother in her time of need.

Orange stayed to himself. Word has it that he never even shed a tear.

The family, having had enough of the "I'm sorry" act from everyone in Pallet, relocated to a nice, small house in Vaniville Town in the Kalos region. Upon their arrival, they were contacted by Professor Sycamore. Having heard that Amber and Orange were the sons of Red and Yellow, he requested their help in filling up the Pokédex. It was a very hard decision, but Yellow chose to let her kids go. In the back of her head, she had the fear of them never coming home like their father.

**. . .**

_That fateful morning…_

The morning sun shined down on Vaniville Town and pierced through the windows of the small houses. Flocks of Fletchling and Pidey alike flew through the skies, chirping happily. In the little house owned by Yellow de Viridian Grove, her children slept comfortably in their beds. Today was the day that their lives would change forever. In more ways than one.

Their lives would change if they ever woke up… Ever since their father went missing four years ago, Orange and Amber have been enjoying their fair shares sleeping in and counting the Mareep. Chuchu ran up the stairs and slapped the kids in the face with her tail. Slowly, the two began waking up.

Orange stretched his arms and yawned. "Oh man, how long did we sleep?"

Amber accidentally slammed her head into the top bunk of the bed as she sat up. "Ow!" she cried out, rubbing it. "Looks like we slept in again."

"Wow, I'm so glad I picked the top bunk" Orange chuckled as he leaned over to see his sister rubbing her head with tears of pain in her eyes. "Aww, is big sis gonna cry?"

Amber threw her pillow up at him. "Shut up, fire crotch. I'm not crying."

"Yeah, and I'm the King of Team Rocket."

"Oh wait! Today's the day, isn't it?" Amber said as she got up and looked at herself in the mirror. Her gray pajamas were all wrinkled and her orange hair was in a frizzy mess. "Gosh, I look gross."

Orange jumped out of bed with Chuey on his shoulder. "Haha, when don't you look gross?" the two giggled.

"Oh very funny" Amber replied in a mocking tone. She quickly stripped down and put on a pair of damaged skinny jeans, black, zipped boots, and a short, lime green parka. "Alright, how do I look?" she asked as she tried to run the brush through her hair.

"Like a fiery mess" Orange laughed as he changed into a pair of blue skinny jeans, a blue jacket, and black boots that were identical to his sister's. Chuey brought his black, outdoors cap over to him and he put it on. "See, now _I _look good."

Amber looked over at him and scoffed. "Yeah, minus the fact that you didn't even do anything to your hair."

"I'm a boy! We don't need to do anything to our hair."

"Right…" Amber said as she returned Eevee to her Poké Ball and grabbed her red tote bag. "So mom said Professor Sycamore lives in Lumiose City, right?"

Orange nodded as he looked around for his black two-tone bag.

"Then that means we've got quite a walk ahead of us" Amber sighed. "Well, I'm ready if you are."

Orange put his bag over his shoulder and sighed as Chuey jumped on his shoulder. "As ready as I'll ever be."

The two walked downstairs to their mother waiting at the bottom stop for them with big hugs. Her eyes were filled with tears as the two stars of her life were about to set off on their Pokémon journey. "Oh you two remind me so much of your father when he was traveling!" she cried.

"It's okay, mom…" Amber hugged her again.

"Yeah," Orange scoffed. "At least we'll come back."

The two stopped and looked at him awkwardly. He simply shrugged his shoulders and said it was true.

"Just don't forget to have fun, Orange. Okay?"

Orange groaned and hugged his mother tight. "Alright, alright." He pulled away from her and smiled his ten year old smile that she loved so much.

"There's that smile! Now go on you two, go start your adventure!"

The two walked out of the door and down the driveway, out into the life-changing world in front of them. It was a small town they lived in. Not many houses, which meant not very many people lived there.

"Hey, what's that?" Amber asked, catching sight of two figures down the road.

"I dunno, looks like two kids… I thought we were the only ones in the town though" he scratched his head.

"Well to be fair, we never exactly made it an effort to leave our property…"

"Hey there, neighbors!" one of the figures shouted as they approached them.


	2. Lil' Orange

**Well hello again. I DID say I would do updates once a week and 12:51 AM on a Monday technically constitutes as a new week, so here you go! Remember, don't forget to favorite or leave a review or whatever it is readers do nowadays! You can do nothing too ._.**

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Pokémon Z Version

Chapter 2

Lil' Orange

The two figures in the distance made their way down the street. Orange looked to his older sister and whispered "Who are they?"

Amber scoffed at Orange pushed him away. "Well it's not like I know! And try standing at least thirty feet away from me… Your breath reeks of old fish."

"I know what else reeks of old fish. Your-"

"Well hey there, neighbors!" a voice took the two feuding siblings by surprise. They turned to see two girls standing before them. "My name's Serena!" one of them said happily. Her long, blonde hair flowed in the cool winds of Vaniville Town. She was around Amber's height, being around 5'10 and looked to be her age as well which was fourteen years old. The black boots the protected her feet complimented her outfit of gray stockings, gray t-shirt, and a beautiful red skirt.

"And I'm Shauna!" a small, energetic girl said. Now this girl was obviously younger, but not because of her voice alone. She stood around Orange's height which was 5'4 and looked to be filled with energy. Her smile was so bright that Orange couldn't help but crack one as he looked at her. A bright, pink shirt was worn by her along with jean shorts and a nice pair of boots.

"It's nice to meet you both!" Orange said happily. "I'm Orange, and this is my sister, Amber."

Serena breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness we have the right kids this time!" She shot an unhappy look at Shauna and she shrunk to about the size of a baby Durant.

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "I thought they were the right ones! They look almost the same as the other kids!"

"Are you serious?" Serena put her hands on her hips. "Look at them, Shauna. They aren't even the same skin color!"

"Um, excuse me?" Amber interrupted. "It just seems like you guys were looking for us. Why?"

Shauna spun around and giggled. "Silly gooses! We're part of the group Professor Sycamore requested to help fill the Pokédex!"

"Group?" Amber questioned. "Professor Sycamore never told us about any group…"

Orange groaned. "Do you have to question everything? Besides, this seems like fun! And you could use a few more friends."

Amber resisted the urge to punch out her brother in front of their new friends and simply sighed at him. "Excuse me for being careful and excuse my little brother for his… himselfness."

"At least I know how to have fun" Orange pouted.

Shauna giggled and walked over to him. "Haha, older siblings can be party poopers, can't they?" she smiled.

"Oh? You've got an older sibling?"

"No," she sighed. "But Serena can be a downer sometimes! She's too serious."

Orange chuckled a little bit. "Well then I'm sure her and my sister will get along just fine."

"Anyway," Serena said, putting a stop to the giggling. "We should be making our way to Aquacorde Town. The others are there waiting for us."

Serena jumped at the realization brought on by Serena. "Oh that's right! Come on, you guys! You're gonna love the others. I just know it!"

With the meeting the first part of the group, the team of four kids set out across town and on to Route 1. It was a nice, smooth, cobblestone path surrounded by trees which were bustling with the sounds of wild Pokémon. Every now and then a wild Fletchling or Pidgey would fly out of the trees and would spook Shauna a little.

"So, Orange and Amber, I hear you two are son and daughter to the legendary Red and Yellow, is that right?" Serena questioned.

"That's correct…" Amber said, feeling a little uneasy.

Shauna excitedly ran in front of them and everyone came to a halt. "Oh my gosh, that's so cool! What's it like? Do you think we'll be able to meet your father?!"

Amber sighed. "I'm not sure tha-"

"Actually," Serena interrupted. "I think it'd be a good idea. Maybe we could even learn a thing or two from them! When do you expect we can meet them?"

"Yeah, it sounds totally awesome to learn from the great Red!" Shauna exclaimed, almost ready to explode with energy.

Every mention of his father made Orange's blood boil hotter and hotter. Amber looked over at him and saw his head hung with his cap about ready to fall off.

"I hope we can meet them today" Serena smiled. "Hey, maybe we could even bring Trev-"

"Our dad is gone" Orange said. The cold and ruthlessness of his voice pierced the excitement in the air and completely shattered it to a million pieces. Serena and Shauna both fell unexpectedly quiet, not knowing what to say.

Shauna finally broke the silence with her curiosity. "Oh, well is he out on a run to the store? When will he be back?"

He glared at her with a look fiercer than an angry Arbok. "That's just it. He's not coming back. Ever."

And just like that, the cat was killed by its childish curiosity. Serena, sensing the impending tears from Shauna's shocked and sad face, tried to change the subject. "Well hey, that's okay! Look, we're almost to Aquacorde Town! We don't want to keep Trevor and Tierno waiting!"

"Right" Amber smiled. "Come on, Orange, let's just put that behind us and get going, alright?"

Orange shrugged his shoulders and looked up at his sister with a blank look on his face. "Fine. Let's go." The words coming out of his mouth almost sounded monotone, like his brain was on autopilot.

The four kids continued walking until they came face to face with a bigger, much more populated city. They stood atop a brick platform with tables looking like they were crafted from nice, expensive wood.

Not many people sat at the tables, but there was one that caught Serena's eye. She pointed to it and said "Look, there they are now!"

They all hurried over to the table and sat down. There were two boys who were already seated at the table, conversing with each other.

"Hey, welcome back, Serena! I see you got everyone" the larger boy said. He wore a black t-shirt with a little Vanillite on it. At first impression, he seemed a bit goofy and silly. "You guys must be Orange and Amber right? I'm Tierno. It's awfully nice to meet you guys!" the boy said, shaking their hands. "And this is Trevor" he said as he pointed to the much smaller boy sitting next to him.

By comparison, Trevor seemed even smaller than Orange. He had on a green jacket with long jeans and seemed like an extremely quiet kid. The only thing off about him was his giant orange hair that Orange thought made no sense.

"Well, it's nice to meet all of you!" Amber smiled.

Serena placed her hands on the table and looked at everyone, getting ready to start announcing the plans. It was her time to shine and show everyone that she was capable of leading the group when suddenly, Shauna stole the spotlight with her childish antics.

"Now, let's get down to business!" Shauna proclaimed, trying to sound loud and important. "I think we should call everyone here by nicknames to make this more fun!"

"Um, Shauna" Trevor finally spoke up with his small voice. "Don't you think there are more pressing matters to attend to than just nicknames?"

Shauna, feeling insulted, frowned at him and asked "How are nicknames not the most pressing matter here?!"

Tierno joined in on the fun and slapped Trevor on the back. "Yeah, Trevs, come on! Lighten up!"

Serena tried to steal her spotlight back from Shauna, but ultimately failed. "Yes, I agree with Trevor" she said. "There are much more pressing matter to a-"

"As far as nicknames go, I think I've got one for Orange! How about 'Lil' Orange'?" Serena interrupted her again.

"Ew, that sounds gross" Amber teased. "Then again, he is pretty little, if you know what I mean."

Orange, looking up from his blank expression, cracked a little smile. "I dunno, I kinda like it! Lil' Orange it is!"

"Yay! Great!" Shauna cheered. "Now what about Amber? Should she be Lil' Amber?"

Serena put her head down on the desk and groaned. "Ugh, I'm surrounded by little kids."

"Ew" Tierno gagged. "That doesn't fit her one bit! How about Ambermeister?"

Amber slapped her hand against her face in frustration. "Please, I don't want a nickname" she grumbled. "Besides, Ambermeister just sounds awful…"

"Heh, an awful name for an awful person!" Orange chuckled. Shauna, surprisingly, found herself laughing along with him.

"Um, if I may, you seem like more the serious type of person, Amber" Trevor spoke up. "So maybe you should have something sophisticated, like Amberlee?"

Amber sat back and thought for a second. She _was _in fact sophisticated. Well, more sophisticated than her brother at least. "I guess Amberlee could work" she said, welcoming the nickname with open arms.

"Great! Now that that's out of the way, we can move on to the Pokémon!" Tierno announced as he sat down a heavy, bronze case on the table. He pushed a little button and it opened, revealing three Poké Balls that sat on a comfy red pillow.

"What?! Tierno!" Serena yelled. "I was supposed to announce that!"

Tierno, completely ignoring Serena, went on with his announcement. "The Professor gave us three Pokémon! One for Shauna, one for Serena, and one for—uh-oh. We're one short of a Pokémon here for Orange and Amber…"

"It's okay" Amber said. "I'll take it!"

"What?!" Orange immediately objected. "How come you get to have it?!"

"Because you already have a Pokémon!" she said.

"Well so do you!" Orange spat back at her.

"This is true, but see, I'm better than you and older than you, so that automatically means I get it. Now… Which one should I choose?" Amber feasted her eyes on the three Poké Balls that sat in front of her.

The first Poké Ball contained a small, seemingly chipper, hedgehog-looking Pokémon. It appeared to be Chespin, the Grass type starter. The Poké Ball next to it housed a small, yellow fox with tufts of red fur coming out of its ears. This Pokémon was Fennekin, the Fire type starter. Finally, on the very end, sat a small, blue frog with a bubble collar lying there, fast asleep it seemed. The little frog was named Froakie, the Water type starter.

Amber weighed her choices carefully. She already had her Eevee, but still didn't know what it was going to evolve into. After a few minutes of thinking, she finally weighed it down to looks. Her eyes shut closed and her hand reached out for a Poké Ball and grasped one. When she opened her eyes, she saw a cute little fox staring intently up at her.

"Oh, so you chose Fennekin!" Tierno smiled.

"Great!" Serena smiled. "That leaves Froakie for me and Chespin for Shauna."

The two girls took their respective Poké Balls and Tierno put the case back into his bag.

"Now I guess all that leaves is for us to go meet Professor Sycamore in Lumiose City" Trevor said as he stood up. "But before we get going…" he took two little red boxes from his pockets and handed one to Orange and Amber. "These are your Pokédexes. I think we should all compare them throughout our journeys. It'll be easier to fill them up that way. Besides, filling up the Pokédex is gonna be tons of fun!"

Tierno began sifting through his pockets and pulled out an envelope, handing it to Amber. "Oh, Amber and Orange, you should show this to your parents. It's from Professor Sycamore."

Amber scoffed and pawned it off on her little brother. "Here, Orange. Go show this to mom."

"What? Why do I have to do it?"

"Because I'm older and I said so, now get going."

Orange groaned, mumbling to himself and got up from the table. He started walking down the platform back to Route 1 when Shauna suddenly stopped him.

"Hold it, Lil' Orange!" she said.

Orange turned around to see a Poké Ball in her hands. "What is it?"

"You're gonna be our first opponents in a Pokémon battle!" she smiled. "Come on, Lil' Chespin, let's go!" Before he knew it, Shauna's Chespin stood on the battlefield, rearing to go and ready for some action.

Orange blinked, almost feeling like this wasn't real. This was his first battle and he was caught completely off guard. But it all started coming to him naturally. In one motion, he grabbed a Poké Ball from his pocket and threw it, calling out his Pichu, Chuey.

Chuey now stood on the battlefield, eyeing Chespin with a friendly grin.

"So this is what a Pokémon battle is like…" Orange said. His blood started pumping and every hair on his body stood on end. "Well let's do this! Chuey, use Thunder Shock!"

Chuey jumped up and released crackling electricity from his checks that shocked Chespin. Chespin fell back from the attack, but got right up and shook it right off as if it were nothing.

"Chespin, use Tackle!" Shauna called out.

Chespin charged at Chuey and slammed his body right into him, sending him flying back. Chuey fell to the ground and slowly got up, having taken some damage from the attack.

"Go, Chuey, use Thunder Shock again!" Orange yelled.

Chuey released shocks of lighting that shocked Chespin again. But just as before, he shook them right off and smirked back at Chuey, who seemed to be getting very tired very fast.

"I don't understand… Why isn't Thunder Shock doing much?" Orange thought to himself. "Wait a second… Could it be that electricity is weak against grass?"

Before he knew it, Shauna had commanded Chespin to use Tackle again and he was charging right at Chuey. Orange quickly snapped back into reality and quickly shouted "Chuey, dodge and use Iron Tail!"

But sadly, it was too late. Chuey had taken his last hit from Chespin's Tackle attack and fainted, making Shauna the victor. Orange could only stand there in awe and shock as he saw his best friend fainted on the ground. He quickly ran over to him, took him into his arms, and shook him a little.

"C- Chuey, are you okay?!" Orange asked, panicking. His heart was racing and sweat poured from his face.

Shauna's Chespin walked over to the two with an Oran Berry in his hands and held it up. Orange looked down at the little Spiky Nut Pokémon and took the berry from him. "Wh- What's this?"

Shauna knelt down next to him and smiled. "It's an Oran Berry, silly! Have your Chuey eat it. It'll make him feel better!"

Orange appreciated Shauna's warm smile and he fed the Oran Berry to Chuey. He took slow, small bites out of it, but gradually began to feel a little better. "Wow!" Orange exclaimed. "It really works!"

"You know, Lil' Orange, that was a really fun battle" Shauna giggled. "And I won't forget it 'cus it was my first and it was with you!"

Orange stood up, returned Chuey to his Poké Ball and sighed. "Well yeah, fun for you… I lost."

"Aw, don't look at it like that…" Shauna smiled. "Hey, better me than your sister, right?"

Orange chuckled to himself a little bit. "Yeah, I guess you're right. You know, you're really nice. I wish I had you as a sister" he giggled at her.

"You're really nice too! It would be awesome to have an older brother, but at least I have Chespin now!" Shauna cheered. Her energy and enthusiasm was starting to get to Orange a little. He found himself smiling almost the whole time he talked to her which was something that he'd never done before with anyone. _Especially a girl._

"Hey, so uhh… Do you wanna walk back home with me? You can meet my mom if you want." Orange offered.

Shauna literally started jumping at the chance. "Whoa, really?! Are you serious?! That'd be so awesome!"

"Yeah, let's go!" Orange smiled at her and the two started to head back down to Route 1.


	3. Amberlee

**I'm sorry, I PROMISE these little Author's Notes won't be in every chapter. I decided to renounce my "One update per week" rule and just update whenever I feel like it. Sometimes it will be quick updates like these and other times it will be slow updates. Also, I don't mean to beg but if you're having any problems with the story so far or want to say something, please feel free to say it in a review or PM me. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you and happy reading :3**

* * *

Pokémon Z Version

Chapter 3

Amberlee

The chirping of the bird Pokémon didn't make Shauna jump anymore as she and Orange walked back down Route 1. It was a little later in the day and the sun's shine was at its peak.

Orange turned to Shauna and took a deep breath. "Hey, Shauna?"

"Yes?" she looked at him and smiled.

"I'm sorry about earlier this morning. I shouldn't have snapped at everyone like that" he hung his head and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Its okay! Shauna whimpered. "Don't be sad! It was my fault in the first place. I shouldn't have been so nosy."

His head raised up towards the sky and he saw a flock of Pidgey flying above him. "Its just that me and him don't exactly have the best history.

"Well whatever happened with you two, it looks like its still bothering you" Shauna said. "Do you want to talk ab-"

Orange immediately shook his head. The mere suggestion of talking about his father started to make his blood boil. But for Shauna's sake, he didn't get angry. "I'd rather not. I don't think I'm ready yet."

"Oh! Well that's fine!" Shauna smiled. "Whenever you are, I'm here to listen!"

Orange looked down at her with a surprised look on his face. "Really?"

"Yeah!" she cheered. "Haven't you ever had a friend there for you before?"

"No, not really" he said with a dismal look on his face. "No one other than Chuey, really."

"What about your sister? She seemed really nice. Don't you two get along?"

Orange sighed. "Not really" he whimpered. Sensing the impending and inevitable tears welling up in the lids of his eyes, he desperately looked around for something to pawn the subject off of. "There sure are lots of Pidgey out here!" he said, thankfully finding a few flocks of Pidgey flying around.

"Oh yeah!" Shauna cheered. "And there's a few Fletchling around here too!"

"What's a Fletchling?" Orange asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

Shauna looked around and saw one resting in a tree. It looked like a smaller Pidgey with a gray body and orange feathers covering its head. "That's what a Fletchling is. They're part Flying and part Normal type! Just like a Pidgey!"

Orange took out his Pokédex and aimed it at the Fletchling. Sadly, no data appeared on the Pokédex. "Hey, how come it isn't doing anything?"

"Oh," Shauna giggled. "You have to catch the Pokémon first, silly!"

He took to slapping it on his hand a few times in an effort to beat some sense into it, but ultimately wound up with the blank Pokédex he was faced with before and now a long sigh. "Stupid thing. So I have to actually catch all of the Pokémon?"

"That's right!" Shauna smiled. "That's just one of the many great things you can do on your adventure."

"Seems like a waste" he said, shoving it back into his pocket. "I mean, I'm obviously not going to use them all. At most, they're probably gonna end up rotting in a PC. All I really need is Chuey anyway."

Shauna tilted her head in curiosity and frowned a little bit. "But wait, you lost to me not too long ago..."

Orange put his hands behind his head as if he were relaxing and let out a sly grin. "Well yeah, but now me and Chuey are lots stronger. We know that Electric type attacks aren't that effective against Grass types. Trust me, if we would have used Iron Tail to begin with, you would have _so_ been done for!"

"Whatever you say" Shauna giggled. "Do you think you can go through the whole region with just Chuey?"

"I don't see why not! If we learn all the right attacks, we should be golden."

Shauna looked at her Poké Ball that contained Chespin and began to get lost deep in thought. "Could what Orange be saying really be true? To put so much faith in one Pokémon alone that you can storm through the region with it?" she thought to herself.

"Oh hey, we're almost here!" Orange started running ahead a little bit.

"Wait!" Shauna called out.

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. "What is it?"

"Can you battle me again? I need to figure out something with Lil' Chespin."

Orange scratched his head, caught off guard once again by her request. "Um, sure, I guess I could battle you again. But this time, we're going all out with what we learned!" he screamed as he tossed his Poké Ball in the air.

**. . .**

_Meanwhile on Route 2..._

Amber put her hands on her hips and smiled. "So _that's_ how you catch a Pokémon!"

The Poké Ball, now containing a brand new Pokémon, flew back into Serena's hands and she turned around to her three friends. "Yep, that's all there is to it!"

"Oh man!" Tierno said, starting to shake his arms and legs in a dancing fashion. "Did you see the way that Zigzagoon moved? It looked like it was dancing!"

Trevor slapped his forehead and let out an annoyed sigh. "Tierno, will you _ever _focus on anything besides the way Pokémon move?"

Tierno happily shook his head much to Trevor's dismay. "No way! You know my goal is to make the best Pokémon dance team there can be!"

Amber folded her arms and looked at him. "That's an odd goal, but nonetheless its a goal" she smiled. "Probably more of a goal than my kid brother has."

"Your brother seems really cool" Trevor added. "My goal is to complete the Pokédex. And to do that, I've got to not just see every Pokémon, but catch them too. I was telling Shauna earlier today that you have to catch the Pokémon in order to get the full data on them."

"Now _that's _a nice goal" Amber smiled at him. "Serena, what about you?"

Serena clenched her fist in determination and smiled, looking Amber straight in the eye. "My goal is to become one of the best trainers anyone can possibly be!"

Amber, shocked by her sudden change in demeanor from happy-go-lucky to serious with a side of determination, smiled right back at her and said "That's my goal too!"

"Well, Amberlee, looks like we're going to be rivals in this! We can keep each other sharp and strong!"

"I couldn't have said that any better myself!" Amber smiled.

As her and Serena began walking down the grassy road of Route 1, Trevor couldn't help but feel left out. "Wow, seems like those two hit it off really well... So, Tierno, want to help me look for some Pokémon?" But when he turned to his side, there was no Tierno standing next to him. Only a patch of grass patted down with imprints of his feet where he stood. Trevor looked up to see Tierno continuing out to catch up with Serena and Amber.

Amber's words of how odd Tierno's goal was kept repeating in his head. "I'll make the best dance team _and _the strongest dance team!" he thought vigorously to himself as he trudged on ahead.

Trevor took a look at his Pikachu's Poké Ball and it looked back up at him with a smile. "Well," he sighed. "I guess its just you and me buddy."

Suddenly, a wild Pidgey flew by them, kicking up sand and dirt as it whipped by at a fast speed.

"There goes our first target! Let's catch some Pokémon, Pikachu!"

Pikachu flew out of the Poké Ball and landed on the ground, keeping a watchful eye on the Pidgey as it made a u-turn and started flying right towards it with its beak extended.

"All right, Pikachu! Flying types are weak against Electric type attacks, so let's see a Thunder Shock!"

As wild bolts of electricity flew from the little Mouse Pokémon's cheeks, Serena, Amber, and Tierno made their way into Santalune Forest. Giant trees stood above them, housing hundreds of creepy, crawling, Bug type Pokémon that could make you scream. Of course that wasn't all that was in the forest. There were reports of Pansage, Panpour, and Pansear running around from time to time. Some people even say that they've seen a Pikachu. But old tales like that are best left forgotten unless you find a Pikachu and you're out of Poké Balls. Then you can remember and grieve.

"So this is Santalune Forest..." Amber said as she looked around. The sounds of the Bug Pokémon scampering around the trees made her skin crawl, but she dare wouldn't let anyone see it.

"I'm going on ahead to train a little" Serena said as she started walking. "Hey, we should all have a battle at the end of the forest!"

Amber nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a good idea!" She ran off in her own direction deep into the forest.

"Er, me too!" Tierno managed to get in before everyone ran off.

Amber came to a patch of tall grass and stood, ready with her Fennekin's Poké Ball in hand to become one of the best trainers she possibly could. She focused her might on a wild Weedle she saw out of the corner of her eye. In swift movement, it seemed, she whipped her Poké Ball around her and called out her Fennekin to her side.

"Fennekin, use Ember!" she commanded.

Fennekin growled and roared, letting lose tons of small, fiery embers that smacked into the Weedle. With the little sliver of health it had left, it fired a poisonous barb from the horn on its head, but Fennekin anticipated the attack and jumped, successfully dodging it.

"All right, finish it off with Tackle!"

In the blink of an eye, Fennekin charged and smashed her body into the small Hairy Pokémon, sending it flying through the air and crashing down defeated. Fennekin looked back at her trainer for approval and Amber nodded.

"Good job, Fennekin!" Suddenly, a thought came into her head. If she were to battle Serena, who chose the Water type Froakie, there was the type advantage to deal with. "I guess I should think about what Pokémon I'm going to use against her."

Fennekin hung her head and sighed. Amber knelt down in front of her and petted her gently, showing her some love. "Oh don't be like that, Fennekin. You're really great, but I can't use you against Froakie like that. It'd be irresponsible." She started looking around, pondering on what kind of Pokémon to capture. "Tierno also has a Corpish, which is a Water type... So maybe a Grass type Pokémon would do some good."

With that, she began walking deeper in the forest with her Fennekin in search of a suitable Grass type Pokémon. The walk became quieter and quieter as her feet took her deeper into the forest, which she found odd.

From out of nowhere, a young boy trainer, dressed in a blue hoodie and shorts with pale white skin jumped from behind a tree.

"Hey, you there!" the boy yelled.

Amber jumped, shocked by the boy's sudden appearance.

"When a trainer's eyes meet, they have to battle!" he announced.

Amber looked down at Fennekin and grinned at her. "It wouldn't hurt to get some practice in. Show us what you've got!"

Fennekin ran out in front of her on the battlefield.

The boy took out a Poké Ball and threw it in the air. "Go, Scatterbug!" he called out.

A little gray, Bug type Pokémon popped out of the Poké Ball. It didn't seem too powerful. In fact, it seemed pretty weak.

"This should a be cinch!" Amber scoffed. "Fennekin, use Ember!"

Fennekin jumped up and blew scolding hot embers at her foe that burned with every hit. The little Scatterbug proved to be no match for the fiery attack and fainted in one hit.

Amber flipped her hair back and sighed. "Well that was kind of disappointing..."

The boy ran over to his Scatterbug and picked it up. "Don't worry, Scatterbug, its okay. We'll just train harder and get her next time!"

Amber turned to look at the boy with confusion. "What do you mean 'We'll just train harder and get her next time!'?"

"Well," the boy stood up. "It might sound crazy, but I believe that with the right amount of training and dedication, there's nothing me and my Scatterbug can't handle."

She couldn't help but laugh at the boy's nonsensical words. "You're right, it _does _sound crazy."

The boy grew agitated by her words. "What do you mean it sounds crazy? Don't you believe in your Pokémon?"

"Yeah, I do, but I'm not just going to give them false hope. Look the fact of the matter is just a Scatterbug will never be able to defeat a Fennekin because of the type advantage."

The boy held his Scatterbug close and started tearing up a little bit. "That's awful rude of you..."

"Hey, don't cry. I just don't want you giving your Pokémon false hope. You want my advice? Go catch some more! You're never gonna win with just one Pokémon. Especially a Scatterbug."

The boy stood there in silence as Amber took her leave. He turned to see her walking down the forest path and yelled "You just see! We'll catch tons of Pokémon and I'll _still _defeat you with Scatterbug! Just wait until it evolves!"

"Whatever" she said, simply waving him off as she walked away.

As she continued her travels through the forest, she more encounters with trainers. Every encounter taught her something: that she was strong for a beginner. Her and Fennekin seemed to be in complete sync and worked as a great pair.

However, most of her opponents were left feeling more down than they should after a normal loss. But this was no normal loss. This was a loss to Amber de Viridian Grove, and if there was one thing she was going to do, it was to correct you.

"_You can't be serious... Coming at me with two Sand Attacks? What, did you think I was just going to miss?" Amber laughed in a small child's face._

"_Ma'am, I'm only seven... I tried my hardest..." the little girl pleaded._

"_Maybe you should just wait until you're a little older before you start battling."_

All the while, Tierno trailed her, learning from her. When the opportunity showed itself, he would write down notes about her battling style.

"_Exploit weaknesses and tear right into them... got it!" he said as he scribbled down some words on a note pad. "Hey, Corpish, you paying attention?"_

_Corpish, unfortunately, was off to the side practicing some dance moves that Tierno had showed him the other day. _

_Tierno pulled him aside. "Hey, come on, there'll be time to dance later. Right now, we gotta work on getting stronger! Now look closely, she's about to battle a wild Pansage..."_

After a few hours, it would appear that Amber had battled her way to the end of the forest. She came to a halt and looked around, wondering where everyone was. Shortly after, Serena appeared with Tierno behind you.

"Wow, looks like my new neighbor is showing some promise" Serena said with a smile.

Amber shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "Well, what can I say? When you want to be one of the best, you strive for it!"

"This is very true!" Serena grinned. "I think we're gonna be good rivals!"

"Hey, I learned a lot too!" Tierno spoke up.

"So how are we going to battle? Tierno is here and it'd be unfair to leave him out" Serena said.

Amber took out two Poké Balls and smirked at them. "Why don't you two take me on at the same time?"

"Or we cold go on teams!" a random voice called from behind them. The voice bothered Amber so much that she instantly knew who it was. It was her younger brother, Orange.

Orange walked up the road to them with Shauna and Trevor by his sides. "We could do a team battle! Me, Shauna, and Trevor against you, Serena, and Tierno. Each of us could only use one Pokémon."

"You know," Serena thought for a second. "Now that you mention it, that does sound interesting! It'd e worthwhile experience knowing how to battle with people."

"Well great, now I won't be able to use this new Pokémon I caught..." she mumbled to herself.

Trevor's eyes widened as he started backing away a little bit, almost seeming like he wanted to opt out of battling. "Erm, I'm not so good at battling, you guys..."

Shauna ran over and pulled him back to the group. "Don't worry!" she smiled. "We're all beginners, so it won't matter how good we are!"

"Yeah, Trevor! Besides, with my Pichu, we're bound to win!" Orange smiled confidently.

"Well," Serena said as she took her place in between Tierno and Amber. "Without further ado, let the three-way battle start!"

Tensions heightened and blood boiled as the opposing side sent out their Pokémon first. Amber played it smart, sending out her Eevee, an already trained Pokémon. Serena and Tierno, wanting other Pokémon besides their starters to get experience, sent out Fletchling and Pikachu respectively.

On the other side of trainers, Orange sent out his only Pokémon, Chuey. Shauna, thinking it was too cute to not be in battle after Orange helped her catch it, sent out a Pikachu she nicknamed Peaches. Trevor, having a full team to choose from, analyzed the battlefield carefully. After seeing there was no above-average option to use, he decided to send out a Zigzagoon, which he recently obtained.

Amber slapped her forehead. "This is going to be a mess..."

"Why are there so many Electric types?!" Serena panicked. "Fletchling, I'm putting my trust in you!"

Fletchling turned back to her and chirped determinedly. It flapped its wings, ready for action.

Amber was suddenly reminded of her first battle with the boy and she shook her head in disapproval at Serena, but she didn't see it. "Come on, Serena... I thought you would have had more sense than that..." she thought to herself.

Tierno looked around the battlefield, puzzled. He saw that there were no weaknesses he could exploit with his Pikachu. "Maybe I should have taken better notes..." he mumbled quietly to himself.

"Ugh, let's just end this!" Amber groaned. "Eevee, use Swift!"

Eevee jumped in the air and swiped her tail back and forth, sending small, shooting stars at her opponents.

"Chuey, dodge!"

"You too, Peaches!"

"Zigzagoon, get out of there!"

The three Pokémon split up and ran in different directions, but it proved no use as the small stars followed them and caused small explosions on impact. And just like that, the battle was over for Orange and Shauna as their Pokémon fainted in one hit from Eevee's Swift attack.

"I call no fair!" Orange said as he picked up Chuey. "You trained that Eevee! Ugh, that makes this my third loss today" he pouted to himself.

Amber shrugged her shoulders. "Is it my fault I did some training with Eevee? No."

Trevor's Zigzagoon held on with a little bit of health left.

"Oh, Zigzagoon is still in the battle!" Shauna pointed out and smiled. "Trevor, quick! Tell it to do something!"

Trevor stood there in shock that the Zigzagoon he recently obtained survived the attack. "Wow, way to go, Zigzagoon! There's not much we can do here though... I don't want to put you through a loss, so return!" and with that, Trevor returned Zigzagoon to the safety of his Poké Ball, away from imminent harm.

"That was a smart move" Amber congratulated him. "No use in putting your Zigzagoon through a senseless loss."

"Well so much for a team battle" Serena sighed. "Well, while we're all here, we can at least take our first steps out of the forest together, am I right?" she smiled.

"Yeah, we can!" both Orange and Shauna said.

The six Pokédex holders lined up in a straight line. From right to left stood Shauna, Orange, Trevor, Tierno, Serena, and Amber. Unintentionally, the trainers actually lined up in order from weakest to strongest, but this was unknown to them. They all took deep breaths and looked at each other with confident smiles as they took their first steps out onto Route 3.


	4. Thunder Shock

Pokémon Z Version

Chapter 4

Thunder Shock

The six chosen Pokédex holders stepped out of the dark, dense forest and onto a short, grassy path with the afternoon sun beaming down on them. Everyone looked up at the bright orange colored sky and felt relaxed, at ease, as if all of their problems melted away for that second. But soon Serena brought them back to reality by breaking the blissful silence.

"So," she started. "What is everyone going to do now? I'm thinking about challenging the Santalune Gym."

Trevor took out Pikachu's Poké Ball and looked at him through it with a smile. "I think me and Pikachu are going to go on ahead and search for some more Pokémon" he said as he grabbed the straps of his backpack and walked down the road.

Tierno looked around a little bit and smiled, feeling the need to dance in the warm, afternoon sun as its rays shined down on him. "Me and my Pokémon are gonna go to the Pokémon Center, get some food, and practice some dance moves" he said gleefully as he started walking down the path. "I'll see you guys around!"

Amber looked at her rival and smiled. "Well as long as you're challenging the Santalune Gym, it wouldn't hurt for me to challenge it too."

"Great!" Serena said as she clenched her fist and smiled at her rival with determination. "I'll see you there!" her words trailed off as she ran down the path, full of energy and ready to meet whatever was going to come at her. Amber took off in the same direction, daring not to let her rival try to pass her up.

"Well, I guess that just leaves us two" Orange yawned. "So what do you wanna do?"

Shauna shrugged her shoulders and thought to herself for a second. "Well I don't know" she giggled. "I don't think I'm too cut out for Pokémon gyms like Amber and Serena..."

Orange put his hands behind his head and yawned again. "Well that's actually where I was going to head off to next."

Shauna looked over at him and smiled. "Can I come with you?" she asked. Her eyes got bigger as if she were using Baby-Doll Eyes on him. With those eyes, Orange couldn't resist.

"Well sure, of course you can come!" he smiled happily. "At least you'll get to see me and Pichu knock the socks off of that Gym leader! I just hope they aren't a Grass type leader." The two started walking down the grassy, afternoon path and he turned to her again. "Really though, in our second battle, how did Chuey's Iron Tail not knock you flat?"

Shauna tilted her head in confusion. "I'm not really sure. Maybe Lil' Chespin has high defenses?"

Orange thought back to the moment of their second battle and replayed it in his head a few times. Now that he thought about it, Iron Tail was a pretty powerful move that should have done more damage to Chespin than it did, but something like high defense could stand in the way of it. "Maybe you're right..." he said as he kept thinking. "We'll just learn some new attacks and get you the next time!"

A patch of grass started rustling in front of them. The two came to a stop and stared at it carefully.

"What do you think it is?" Shauna asked him.

Orange moved back a little bit and pulled Shauna with him. "I'm not sure, but whatever it is, be careful..."

Their fears came to a climax as a little, round, blue Pokémon with a large tail bounced out of the bushes in front of them. Shauna squealed at the sight of it, thinking it was just too cute.

Orange took out his Pokédex and pointed it at the little Pokémon. "Well," he said as he read what little information the red box had to offer him. "It says its a Pokémon called Azurill, but that's _all _it says."

"Oh my goodness, its _so_ cute!" she shrieked as she grabbed Chespin's Poké Ball. "I've got to catch it!"

Much to their surprise, five more Azurill hopped happily out of the bushes. Shauna squealed so loud that she nearly broke Orange's eardrums.

"Wait, don't they call this a horde?" Orange asked.

Shauna nodded and jumped up and down. "This the cutest horde ever!"

He stepped in front of her and took out Chuey's Poké Ball. "Do you mind if I handle it then?"

Shauna immediately frowned and folded her arms in a fit. "Aww, but what about the Azurill?!"

"Well if there's a horde of them right now, then there's bound to be tons more..." he sighed. "I'm sorry, Shauna, but this opportunity is just too good to pass up! Let's go, Chuey!" He launched the Poké Ball in the air and called out Chuey.

Chuey stood in front of Orange on the battlefield with his cheeks sparking with electricity, signaling he was ready for some battling.

"Chuey, get their attention with Thunder Shock!"

Chuey let the sparks fly from his cheeks and shocked one of the Azurill. Suddenly, they all turned and glared at him, but sadly, their cute faces didn't look to be much of threat. Shauna squealed again at their cute, angry faces and pouted knowing that she couldn't have one of them.

Orange saw her pouting a little bit and sighed, seeing her smile disappear. He knew if he were to get that smile back, he'd have to catch one of the Azurill.

All of the Azurill fired off Water Gun attacks at once, slamming concentrated torrents of water at Chuey with a bigger amount of force than one attack.

"Chuey, get them with Thunder Shock again!"

Chuey let loose more sparks of electricity that got two of the Azurill this time and made them faint. The other three filled their cheeks with water and shot another Water Gun attack.

"Dodge it!" Orange yelled.

Chuey tried to move his legs but they wouldn't budge. To him, they felt like jelly, exhausted from firing off two Thunder Shocks. He tried desperately to move out of the way but before he knew it, he was slammed with another Water Gun attack and was brought to the verge of fainting.

"What?!" Orange said, shocked that his Pokémon apparently didn't listen. "Chuey, didn't you hear me? I said to dodge that!" he yelled, not seeing that his partner was exhausted. Seeing that his Pokémon was on the verge of fainting, but not seeing that it was tired, threw an Oran Berry out to him and Chuey caught it, quickly eating it and regaining some of his strength. "Get them with another Thunder Shock!"

Chuey jumped up and let loose bolts of electricity that shocked two of the three remaining Azurill and successfully made them faint. Now all that stood in front of them was one lone Azurill that could be captured.

"All right, Chuey, just one more hit! Thunder Shock!"

But Chuey couldn't take it anymore. The strain of Thunder Shock after Thunder Shock on his body was rearing its ugly head as he tried to let loose another one, but no sparks flashed. He tried again and still no sparks.

"W- Chuey, what's wrong?" Orange felt his heartbeat in his head and his airways began to get restricted as he started panicking. "Why can't you use Thunder Shock?"

Chuey squealed as he tried to summon the electricity in his cheeks to let out another Thunder Shock, but it proved useless.

Shauna and Orange could only watch as Chuey desperately tried to summon the strength to use Thunder Shock, but failed again and again. Unknown to them, Azurill had already fired off another Water Gun attack that took everyone by surprise as the torrent of water came out of nowhere and slammed Chuey into a nearby tree, causing what little health he regained from the Oran Berry to deplete and faint. The world had claimed yet another victory over the son of Red.

Orange rushed to Chuey's side and picked him. "Chuey, are you okay?!" he yelled, shaking him in an effort to wake up. But it was no use. Chuey was knocked unconscious.

Shauna followed close behind him and gasped. "O- Orange... Look at his cheeks..." she said, her voice about ready to break out into a scared cry.

Orange looked down and saw little bits of blood gushing from Chuey's cheeks. His body was covered in bruises and stretch marks, which made Orange's heart stop at the sight of them. He returned Chuey back to his Poké Ball, protecting it from further harm and stood up with tears running down his face. "Shauna, which way is the Pokémon Center?!"

Shauna jumped at his panicked, terrified voice and thought for a second. She looked down the grassy pathway and grabbed his hand. "Its got to be this way! Come on!"

The two rushed down the grassy path, Shauna pulling him by his hand. Orange felt his fingers and toes go numb as they ran under the afternoon sun in a desperate attempt to reach the Santalune Pokémon Center before anything else bad could happen.

After a few minutes of debilitating running, the two arrived at the Pokémon Center, charging through the doors. Orange walked up to the counter and demanded Nurse Joy's help.

"Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy!" he panted over and over again. "You've got to help my Pichu, he's been hurt!"

Shauna pulled him back a little bit. "Orange, come on now, let's not be rude."

"But Chuey's hurt!" he turned to her.

Nurse Joy called a Wigglytuff over to the counter with a stretcher and loaded Chuey onto it. "Its okay" she smiled. "We're trained for emergencies like these. Your Pichu is going to be fine!"

Orange looked up at the nice lady with pink hair as his eyes welled up with tears. "A- Are you sure?" he stammered. The nurse nodded with a soft, warm smile and Orange started to calm down. His heartbeat slowed and his blood stopped boiling.

Shauna grabbed his hand and tugged him a little bit. "Come on, let's go do something to take our minds off of it."

Orange looked back at the doors that Wigglytuff rolled Chuey into and whimpered. "But I don't want to leave Chuey. I want to be here when he wakes up."

"Chuey won't be awake for some time now" Nurse Joy said. "Why don't you let your girlfriend take you out? It won't do you or your Pichu any good to sit around and worry."

Orange sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're rig-" he suddenly paused as something didn't hit his ear the right way. Both him and Shauna looked up at Nurse Joy with a look of absolute horror and disgust. "Did you say girlfriend?" Orange stammered again.

Nurse Joy looked at the two kids holding hands and smiled at them. "Well yes, I did. You two are together, aren't you?"

"Ew! No way! I could never date Lil' Orange!" Shauna shook her head.

Orange gagged at the mere thought of him being together with Shauna. "I'm still young enough to think girls are icky, right? Ten is still young enough!"

Nurse Joy leaned over the counter and raised a curious eyebrow at them. "Then how come you two are holding hands?"

Orange and Shauna looked down to see that they were indeed holding hands. Fingers entwined with each other and all. The two quickly pulled away from each other and held back the overreaction to vomit. "Ew!" they both screamed.

"Well anyway, its going to be a few hours until your Pichu is fully healed. There's a clothing store right next door that's about to close soon. Why don't you two go check it out?"

"Anything's better than staying here and getting called someone's boyfriend" Orange gagged again.

"Right? Let's go, Lil' Orange! I wonder if they'll have anything that fits me."

The two walked out of the Pokémon Center and next door to a nice, small, white building with a sign that had a t-shirt logo on it. They entered the store and saw a nice display of mannequins with beautiful clothes on.

"Welcome to the Santalune Boutique!" the store clerk said from behind in the counter in the corner. He had a nice, welcoming face, good smile, and a decent haircut. "How can I help you guys this afternoon?"

Orange scratched his head. "Um, we're just here to try on stuff. I doubt we'll buy anything."

"Hey, speak for yourself!" Shauna giggled. "I could use a new pair of pants!"

Orange took a quick peak, not noticing what kind of pants she had on before and saw that she was wearing a pair of very short jean shorts. "Erm, yeah, you may need a new pair..."

Shauna put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Wait, have you been looking at me?"

"Er, no!" Orange blushed. "I was just agr- oh my Arceus, what's that!" Orange yelled as he pointed to the wall. Shauna turned excitedly only to see that it was just an ordinary wall. When she looked back, she saw Orange making a break for it towards the changing room.

"Orange!" Shauna chased after him, but by the time she reached him, he was already in the changing room with the curtain closed. "Orange, come out of there right now! You didn't even take any clothes in there with you!"

"Um... ¡No hablo ingles!" he said in a mousey voice with a horrible Spanish accent.

"You do too speak English! Now come out of there!"

Orange stepped out of the changing room with a completely different outfit on. His black boots remained the same, but he had on a white t-shirt with a Poké Ball logo on it and a pair of brown jeans. He also changed from a normal cap to a blue camouflage beanie.

"Oh wow" Shauna said with a shocked look on her face. "You actually did change your clothes..."

"Yeah!" he said as he spun around. "What do you think?"

Shauna couldn't help but stare at his lean, skinny body as he spun around. The tight t-shirt, clinging to his body, displayed the muscles in his arms. He had none, but the shirt made it seem like he did.

"Shauna?" Orange said, snapping her back into reality. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" Shauna said as she shook her head a little. "Sorry, I was just remembering something. Anyway, yeah, you look fine!" she blushed slightly.

"Thanks! Hey, didn't you say you wanted to try some clothes on?"

"Oh yeah!" Shauna giggled. She quickly grabbed a pair of pants and ran into the dressing room. She grabbed them too fast in order for Orange to see, so he was left wondering what kind of pants she would come out with. In a flash, she jumped out of the dressing room with a pair of black jean shorts that went well with her pink shirt. "Ta-dah!" she smiled. "How do I look?"

"You look great!" Orange said, trying not to blush. "How much time did we kill?"

Shauna looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. "Only about thirty minutes."

"Oh great" Orange said sarcastically as he leaned against the wall.

"Well maybe there's some other things we can do!" Shauna said. "Come on, let's go walk around town!"

Orange sighed and stood up slowly. "Fine."

The two started walking toward the door and the cashier nearly jumped over the counter trying to yell at them. "Hey, excuse me!" he said in a very offended tone. "Aren't you two going to pay for those?!"

Suddenly, a Pokémon appeared in front of them. Almost like it came out of nowhere. It had a red zigzag marking on its belly and was green, almost resembling a gecko of some sort. The two jumped at the sudden appearance of it. In the heat of the moment, Shauna accidentally grabbed Orange's hand out of fear, but once the two calmed down and saw it, they both quickly looked away.

"How much do we owe you for these clothes?" Orange asked.

The clerk took a look at Orange and rung up a price on the register. "Given the fact that you're buying an entire outfit, your total price comes to... One-thousand five hundred Poké Dollars."

"What?!" Orange jumped back. "But that's like, half of my money!" He started digging around in his pockets and handed the man the correct amount of money. "Well, at least I look good..."

"And little lady, your total for the pants comes to about two-hundred Poké Dollars."

Shauna dug around in her bag and handed the man the money.

"Pleasure doing business with you kids" he smiled.

As they started for the door, Orange looked back at the cashier and asked "Hey, what's this Pokémon right here?"

"Oh, you mean the Pokémon that jumped out at you? Its a Kecleon. It can completely blend in with the surroundings around it, but the red mark on its belly always stays visible."

"That's so cool" Orange smiled. "Anyway, we'll be seeing you." He waved to the clerk as the two walking out of the store and back into the cool, afternoon air.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Shauna giggled at him.

Orange shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I guess it was. I didn't know shopping could be fun. Haha, I guess anything can be fun when you're with the right people, like you!"

"So what do you want to do now?"

"What else is there to do?"

"Maybe we should just go back to the Pokémon Center" Orange suggested. "I'm starting to get a little sleepy anyway. Its been a long day."

Shauna yawned and leaned against him. "It has, hasn't it?"

Orange playfully pushed her off and she playfully nudged him that. "Haha, looks like you're not that tired!"

"Oh yeah? I'm so tired I could fall asleep right now!" Shauna challenged him.

"Nu-uh! I'm more tired!" Orange fought back.

The two walked into the Pokémon Center, arguing over who was more tired and made their way to Nurse Joy's desk.

"Hey, Nurse Joy, how is Chuey doing?" Orange asked.

Nurse Joy looked up from her paperwork and smiled at the two kids. "Oh he's doing just fine! He's resting now, so it might be a little bit before he wakes up."

Orange breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Arceus" he smiled. "Come on, Shauna, let's go sit and wait."

"Actually, Orange, could I talk to you privately for a second?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Um, sure" Orange said nervously. Shauna left to go sit down somewhere and Nurse Joy confronted him.

"Orange, your Pichu was hurt because he overused his electricity. Do you know why?"

Orange thought back to everything he had done today and frowned. "Well, Chuey and I had been in a lot of battles today. What do you mean he overused his electricity?"

"How long have you had Chuey?"

"About four years."

"Its still a baby Pokémon. Pichu aren't capable of controlling their electricity, which means whenever they attack, they burn up a lot of energy and constantly shock themselves. Did you know that?"

Orange's heart practically stopped beating and sank into the lower pits of his stomach. "No, I didn't know that" he whimpered.

"Its okay," Nurse Joy smiled. "You weren't aware, but now you know not to make it use attacks like Thunder Shock all the time."

Orange wiped the tears from his face and sniffled. "Thank you, Nurse Joy" he smiled at her.

"Also, what's a little more concerning is that your Pichu of four years hasn't evolved yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, have you heard of Pokémon Amie?"

"No, what is it?" he tilted his head.

"Its a world all trainers have access to. You can go there and bond with your Pokémon and its just you and them. No distractions and no wild Pokémon running around. I want you to try it with your Pichu sometime."

"How do I go to it?"

Nurse Joy pulled open a drawer and sifted through an assortment of colorful wristbands. Finally, she pulled out a red one and handed it to him. "Whenever you want to go to Pokémon Amie, just rub the bracelet and you and your Pokémon will be transported there."

Orange took the wristband and slipped it on his dainty wrist. "Thank you again, Nurse Joy."

The nurse smiled up at him. "Oh its no problem! Now, your girlfriend seems a little lonely, so maybe you should go sit with her" Nurse Joy said with a devilish smile.

"Hey, she's not my girlfriend" Orange pleaded. With that, he left the nurse's table and went to go sit with Shauna.

"Hey Lil' Orange" she smiled. "Is everything alright?"

Orange plopped down next to her and sighed. "Yeah. Well, no, not really. Well, things are gonna be okay. I'd rather not talk about it."

"Oh" Shauna said with a concerned look on her face. "Well that's fine!"

A few hours passed and the afternoon sky transitioned to a dark, nighttime sky dotted with hundreds of stars all across it. Trainers that didn't feel like camping out were welcome to sleep in the Pokémon Center, so there was a small group of trainers of all kinds around the two.

More time passed and one by one, the trainers started falling asleep until it was quiet. Even Shauna eventually fell asleep, leaning on Orange's shoulder, much to his dismay. After a while he didn't seem to mind it too terribly much. She was keeping that half of his body warm anyway, so he decided to just let her stay the way she was.

A little later, Chuey came running from out of the darkness and jumped onto his lap, waking him up.

"Chuey!" Orange whispered. "You're okay!" he looked down at him and saw his cheeks were bandaged up. "Oh no, your cheeks..." he ran his hand over them slowly and Chuey winced at his touch. "Still hurt, huh?"

Chuey nodded.

"Maybe we should just hold off on the Electric type attacks for a while. I'm really sorry I didn't notice you were being hurt every time you used Thunder Shock... I guess I just don't understand you very well. But don't worry! I've got a plan in the morning that will make us become best friends!" He looked down at his bracelet and smiled at it. "Maybe now I'll finally be able to understand Chuey..." he thought to himself as he trailed off to sleep, leaning his head on Shauna's head. He still found it disgusting, but he figured that moving would wake her up, so he let it slide.


	5. Trust

**AN: Well you guys, thank you for all of the support so far! It really means a lot to have so much support five chapters in. Anyway, keep reading and reviewing! Its awesome to see what you guys think. (Totally not begging for stuff again).**

* * *

Pokémon Z Version

Chapter 5

Trust

That next morning, all of the trainers quickly woke up and got themselves ready to resume their adventures. Orange and Shauna were among the first to wake up and step out into the morning sun. The streets were busy, bustling with trainers and Pokémon alike running around.

Orange stretched his arms in the air and yawned loudly. "Well, Shauna, what are you going to do now?" Chuey jumped on his head and took refuge from the morning sun under his hat.

Shauna thought to herself and took out Chespin's Poké Ball. "I think me and Lil' Chespin are gonna go look for some Azurill!"

"That's sounds awesome!" Orange looked down at his red wristband and smiled. "Me and Chuey are gonna go train a little bit."

Shauna sighed. "You two be careful! I don't want to come back to the Pokémon Center and see you two in another accident."

"Don't worry!" Orange scoffed. "We'll be fine now. Just gotta stay away from Electric type attacks for a while. Isn't that right, little buddy?"

Chuey poked his head from underneath Orange's beanie and smiled, agreeing with him. He jumped out from underneath it and landed in Shauna's arms, giving her a big hug.

Orange laughed nervously and scratched his head. "I guess that's Chuey's way of saying bye."

Shauna hugged him back tightly and smiled, handing him back to Orange who put him underneath his hat again. "Aw, well I'll see you later, Chuey. You too, Lil' Orange!"

"Erm, so... D- Do you want a..." Orange paused and stood there nervously with a blank expression on his face.

"A what?" Shauna questioned.

Orange shook his head and bounced back to reality. "Um, never mind" he blushed a little. "I'll see you around."

Shauna giggled and quickly wrapped her arms around him. "I'll see you around too" she said as she hugged him tight.

Not knowing what to do, he stood there for about half a second in complete shock. He slowly raised his arms up to put them around her as she hugged him, but by the time his arms were up, Shauna had already pulled away. Unfortunately, when she pulled away, Orange's arms were still up, so she backed into them, as if he were holding her. Not wanting to make the situation any more awkward than what it already was, he quickly pulled away and blushed again. Seeing him blushing got her blushing as well and the two stood there awkwardly staring at each other.

"Um... Well I've gotta go, so..." Orange smiled nervously.

"Oh right, yeah!" Shauna giggled. "Like you said, you'll see me around!" she said as she ran down the street, waving back at him.

He raised his hand up to about his shoulder and waved a little, still in shock of what just happened. Chuey jumped down with a devious smirk and nudged Orange's leg. "Chuey, knock it off" he groaned. His attention then floated down to the red wristband on his wrist and he placed his and on it. Chuey jumped up onto his shoulder and looked at it. "So all I have to do is rub it, right?"

He slowly began rubbing the wristband and the world around him came to a screeching halt. The people and Pokémon were frozen in their places. Orange and Chuey looked around the frozen world they appeared to be in. Suddenly, everything began to lose its color and started to fade away. The sudden discoloration and fading of the word around them sent Orange's heart into a frenzy of spastic heart beats as his vision began growing darker and darker until he fell unconscious.

Orange awoke minutes later in a dazed state. His eyes slowly opened to meet with a different world. Nothing but a large stretch of grass and a large body of water at the end of it stood in front of him. A little playground equipped with a slide, swing set with seven swings, and a see-saw.

"Chuey?" Orange called out as he slowly stood up.

Chuey jumped from underneath his hat and onto the ground in front of him.

"I guess this is Pokémon Amie..." he said as he looked around at the nice, open field.

The soft winds blew through his hair as he looked up to the bright, clear sky. Not a cloud was to be seen for miles. The world felt peaceful, as if nothing mattered anymore. A little note floated down the sky into Orange's hands and he opened it and read it.

"_Welcome to Pokémon Amie! A special world where you can spend time with your Pokémon! Pet your Pokémon, feed them Poké Puffs, and play with them! Build strong bonds that will last a lifetime. Poké Puffs can be found in the case floating down after this note has been read. There are twelve in there to start you off and you can get more by playing games such as Head It, Berry Picker, and Tile Puzzle. You can also invite your friends to come play with you in your Amie world. Decorations for your world can be purchased in Lumiose City at the Amie Café. Become best friends with your Pokémon, but most importantly, have fun!"_

Orange crumpled up the note and put it in his back pocket. He looked to the sky and saw a small, blue case floating down towards him. It fell into his hands and he opened it, revealing beautiful Poké Puff pastries. He took out a Lime flavored puff and held it in his hands. "Hey, Chuey, do you want one?"

Chuey jumped off his shoulders and Orange knelt down, giving the puff to him. He quickly ate it in one bite and burped up an offensive smelling odor that made Orange cringe.

"Ew, Chuey! That's disgusting!" he laughed as he waved the smell away with his hands.

A cool breeze began blowing through the world, waving the grass around and pushing a few of the swings. Orange took notice of it and smiled at them. "Wanna go play on the swings?"

Chuey looked over at the swings and froze, feeling a terribly cold chill go down his little spine. His tiny heart began pumping a thousand times per minute as terrible, traumatic memories of time as an egg flashed through his head.

"_Daddy, look, me and Eggy are bonding!"_ rang in his head over and over again like huge church bells.

"Chuey?" Orange picked him up. "What's wrong?" He looked into his friend's eyes and saw a glassy, empty expression. Chuey looked horridly pale and his body shook every now and then.

Orange looked over to the swings again and suddenly it all came back to him. That horrible morning that changed both of their lives forever when his father snapped.

"The swings..." he said quietly as he remembered the defenseless egg flying helplessly in the air towards its death. It finally clicked in his head that Chuey didn't want to go on the swings because of that day. "You knew what was happening even when you were in your egg... Chuey, I'm so sorry."

Chuey sat there in his arms with a glossed over look in his eyes. He couldn't force his limbs to move as they hung there lifelessly and the horrible day replayed in his mind over and over again.

Orange saw that words wouldn't be able to get through to his petrified friend. What came into his head next defied all reason that he had ever been taught by his father and mother. But he was going to do what he thought needed to be done. For the sake of their friendship, Orange hugged Chuey against the tear-soaked collar of his shirt and apologized over and over again for what he was about to do.

If he was going to do what he was planning, the time for it soon became nigh as he took his friend over to the swing set. With every step, Orange could feel his fingers and toes growing more and more numb and the tears began flowing from his eyes and down his face like a waterfall. He slowly knelt down and placed his friend on the swing.

"Come on, Chuey" Orange sniffled. "I need you to hold on to the ropes so you don't fall off."

But Chuey didn't respond at all. His petrified paws wouldn't grip the ropes and his arms wouldn't even lift up. Orange knelt down and wrapped his paws around the ropes. He stood back up and placed his hand on Chuey's back. At that exact moment, Chuey let out an ear piercing, blood curdling cry that made Orange jump back. But upon realizing what had to be done, he placed his hand on Chuey's back again and gently pushed him.

Chuey's screams only grew louder and louder as Orange kept pushing him, increasing force each time. Orange was almost positive that his ear drums were going to burst. Either that or Chuey would lose his voice after screaming so much, but then something amazing happened. The world fell completely quiet, minus the creaking of the swing. Chuey had stopped screaming and actually started laughing.

"Chuey... Are you laughing?" Orange said in awe and excitement. He couldn't help but start laughing himself as he pushed him on the swing.

But the laughter suddenly stopped when events from years ago took form today. An accidental push with too much force caused Chuey to fly off the swing and high into the air. Orange's heart stopped as he raced out from behind the swing with his arms out screaming Chuey's name. He saw Chuey falling down in front of him and he was so close, but his feet couldn't carry him the extra inch and his arms could extend no further. His feet pushed him up into the air, successfully catching his friend in his arms and gripping him tight as they fell back down to the world, landing on Orange's left shoulder first.

"C- Chuey, are you okay?" Orange said as he unraveled his arms.

Chuey rolled out of his arms, thankfully unscathed, but started shrieking at the sight of his trainer's bloody shoulder.

Orange winced as he rolled up the sleeve on his shirt and saw blood trickling down from a wound on his shoulder. "Well it looks worse than it feels" he laughed a little bit. "I'm just glad you're safe, Chuey."

Suddenly, Chuey's body became enveloped in a strange light. The light became blinding as Orange shielded his eyes. Chuey's body began changing form, growing larger, pointy ears, a bigger body, and a much larger tail. The light soon faded away and Orange was finally able to open his eyes, but what he saw clearly defined the unbreakable strength of their new trusting friendship and took it to a completely new level.

Orange knelt down to his friend, not believing what his eyes at the miracle that just took place. Finally, the trust between them was mended and their friendship could resume.

**. . .**

"Viola!" Amber said as she stepped off of the sticky web and onto the gym leader's platform.

A girl with blonde hair, a white t-shirt, and green pants turned around from taking pictures with her expensive-looking camera. "Oh, you must be the challenger that breezed through all of my gym trainers with a Fennekin! Welcome to the Santalune Gym! I'm Viola." She held out her hand to shake Amber's. "You seem pretty strong. Its going to be a pleasure to battle you" she smiled.

Amber denied the gym leader's hand and groaned. "If you don't mind, how about we skip the formalities and get straight to the battle?"

Viola took her hand away and folded her arms. "Oh, so you're one of _those _challengers" she groaned.

"What do you mean 'one of _those _challengers'?" Amber scoffed, offended. Not even a minute of talking and already tensions were running extremely high between the two.

Viola went to her table that was littered with artwork and photography accessories and picked up three Poké Balls. "I've got a special thing for trainers who think they own the world" she smirked. "Three on three battle" she announced.

"I'll only need one" Amber folded her arms.

Viola grinned and held up her Poké Ball. "Like I said, I've got a special thing for Pokémon Trainers like you... Go, Surskit!" she yelled as she threw her first Poké Ball.

A small, blue, insectoid Pokémon appeared from the ball. It had four long, skinny legs extending from its small, blue body.

Amber analyzed the Pokémon carefully. "Surskit... Well, its got to be a Bug type Pokémon, so go, Fennekin!"

Fennekin jumped out of her thrown Poké Ball and stood on the battle field, growling fiercely at her opponent.

"I'll let you have the first movement" Viola smiled deviously.

"Fennekin, use Ember!" Amber commanded.

Fennekin jumped up and blew scolding hot embers that rained down on Surskit, but it seemed to shrug them off without being bothered much. Amber was slightly baffled by this and questioned

the Surskit's typing.

"It can't be just a Bug type..." she said to herself.

"Surskit, use Water Pulse!" Viola suddenly yelled.

Surskit quickly shot a pulsating blast of water that smacked Fennekin in the face, sending her flying back and doing a very considerable amount of damage.

"What?!" Amber screamed.

"That's right!" Viola snickered. "Surskit is part Water type!"

"Ugh!" Amber groaned as she quickly returned Fennekin to her Poké Ball. "Come on, Pansage!" she yelled.

Pansage jumped out of his Poké Ball and onto the battlefield, staring down Surskit.

"Pansage, use Vine Whip!"

Pansage sent forth two vines from underneath his arms and whipped Surskit multiple times with them.

"Surskit, use Quick Attack!"

"Stop it with Vine Whip!"

Surskit began charging at its foe, confounding it with amazing speed. It dashed all around, leaving Pansage unable to hit it with Vine Whip. The vines went all around in a spastic frenzy, desperately trying to hit its opponent, but it left Pansage unaware that Surskit had already closed in until it slammed its body into it. Pansage flew back from the force and hit the wall, knocking it out for a brief second. It slowly got back up, but was scared to hear Viola call out another move.

"Surskit, use Struggle Bug!"

Pansage looked to its trainer for an order but she only stood there, watching as Surskit released a blast of energy from its body that knocked it out in one clean hit. She returned Pansage to its Poké Ball and grimaced at it. "Stupid weak Pokémon" she spat quietly to herself.

Viola looked at her with shock as she saw her opponent grimacing at the Poké Ball in obvious disgust. "Hey, what's wrong with you?" she yelled at her. "Your Pansage was looking for orders from you and you just gave up! It could have easily avoided that Struggle Bug attack and came back with Vine Whip!"

Amber looked at her with a cold gaze and took out another Poké Ball. "It was weak. Even if it did dodge, there's no guarantee it would have even lasted."

Viola gasped. "Don't you trust your Pokémon?"

Amber shook her head. "Trust isn't a material thing. You can't see it like the strength of a Pokémon or the type advantage one has over the other. I fight according to that, not to some stupid thing like trust." she threw out her next Pokémon, Eevee. "Now _this _is a strong Pokémon with a neutral typing, no weaknesses and no strengths."

Eevee growled fiercely at her opponent and immediately fired off a devastating Swift attack that caught Surskit off guard and defeated it.

Viola, filled with anger and disgust for her opponent, returned her Surskit and apologized to it for having such an inconsiderate opponent. Amber took offense to this.

"I'm not inconsiderate" she scoffed. "I just know how to use my Pokémon."

Viola clenched her fist and ground her teeth at the ignorant trainer's words and called out her next Pokémon, a beautiful butterfly-like Bug type with pink wings. "Let's see how well you and your untrustworthy Pokémon do against this one. Its name is Vivillon!"

"We don't care too much for names" Amber laughed. "Just types. Eevee, use Quick Attack!"

Eevee began charging at Vivillon with amazing speed.

"Vivillon, blow it back with Gust!"

Vivillon flapped its elegant wings, stirring up harsh winds that rocked the battlefield. But its foe suddenly disappeared in thin air. Vivillon immediately stopped and checked its surroundings, but wasn't fast enough to see Eevee slamming into it from above. The force knocked it to the ground, causing some pretty big damage.

"Now, get it and use Bite!" Amber commanded.

Eevee picked up Vivillon with her teeth by its wings and flung it up in the air. She then jumped up, bit down on its body, and with great power, flung it back to the ground. The force caused dust to fly everywhere and once it cleared, it revealed that Vivillon had been done in by its opponent.

Viola returned her Pokémon and again apologized for the opponent they were facing today.

"Yeah, this is what happens when you trust your Pokémon! You become blind to what kind of power and moves your opponents have. Seems like your little _special _thing for me, your Surskit, is done in" she gloated.

"I'm not done yet!" Viola yelled. "Surskit wasn't my special thing for trainers like you! It was this!" she threw out her final Poké Ball, but much to Amber's amazement, it fell to the ground and opened empty.

Amber couldn't help but laugh at the gym leader for her seemingly large amount of stupidity. "Wow, are you serious?! Your last Pokémon is that? Just a could of dust from a Poké Ball?!"

Suddenly, a large, green, prey-mantis-like Pokémon appeared in front of Eevee with scythes raised up at it.

"Vacuum Wave" Viola said with a smile on her face.

The large Pokémon created a wave of energy in the form of a ball on one of its scythes and launched it at Eevee. The ball of energy smacked into her and sent her flying through the wall and into the other room, obviously defeated. Amber returned her to her Poké Ball, dumbfounded at the force the opponent presented.

"Don't underestimate me and my Scyther" Viola smiled after the satisfying defeat.

Amber was left with only her Fennekin left, which she smiled because of the type advantage and called her back out to the battlefield.

Fennekin appeared on the field, but this time her ears were lowered and her tail was between her legs, shaking like a scared dog. She could feel the power the Scyther let off, but Amber ignored it. The two definitely were not in sync as she called for an Ember attack. Fennekin jumped up and shot fiery hot embers out of her mouth that went straight for Scyther.

Scyther, in the blink of an eye, moved out of the way and counter-attacked with a Quick Attack. Fennekin was pushed back from the force, but still stood her ground much to Amber's surprise.

"Maybe she's stronger than I thought..." Amber thought to herself. "Fennekin, let's go for a Scratch attack!"

Fennekin summoned her sharp claws and charged at her opponent. Scyther held up its scythes to defend and Fennekin jumped up, scratching them relentlessly.

"Quick, use Ember!" Amber shouted.

Fennekin hooked onto Scyther's scythes with her claws and pulled itself up just far enough to fire an Ember attack on her opponent's head. Scyther smacked her off and jumped back from the burning hot embers that scolded its head.

"Hurry, while they're disoriented, use Ember!"

Fennekin quickly fired off another Ember attack that pushed Scyther against the wall, soundly defeating it and claiming victory over the gym leader Viola. Fennekin ran to her trainer's arms to celebrate, but she was returned before reaching her.

Viola ran over to her Scyther and helped it up, thanking it for trying so hard in the battle. Amber scoffed at this and she glared at her.

"You know, you've got a really bad attitude towards your Pokémon" she said. "That Pansage tried as hard as it could and you just let it faint!"

Amber groaned with increasing annoyance. "Can I just have my gym badge already?"

Viola grabbed the Santalune Gym Badge and chucked it at her. "Just take it and get out of my gym. I don't ever want to see you here again until you can learn to trust your Pokémon."

Amber picked up her badge and walked through the door behind Viola that led upstairs and out of the gym. "Well someone's a sore loser" she thought to herself. "Oh well, at least I got my first gym badge."

* * *

**AN: On a serious note, how much would you guys trust your Pokemon if you had some? What about your friends? Who do you trust in life?**


	6. Yesterday

**AN: Sorry for the late update. College and all. Chapter 6 took me a while to do. I really needed to get certain parts right. Especially the ending.**

* * *

Pokémon Z Version

Chapter 6

Yesterday

It had been an entire night since Viola faced the trainer that called herself Amber. She spent a good portion of her sleep thinking about what it really meant to become a Pokémon Trainer and how to be an exceptional one.

The next morning arrived and Viola sat her table. It was littered in hundreds of beautiful photographs that she would occasionally browse. Sadly, no matter how much she looked at the pictures, her mind would not stray from her defeat by Amber. The closing remark, "Oh well, at least I got my first gym badge" echoed in the recesses of her mind.

"Its like she doesn't even care about her Pokémon" Viola muttered to herself. A feeling of resentment flew through her body as she clenched her fists, accidentally crumpling a photograph in her hand. She looked down and sighed, smoothing out the photograph. At a closer look, the picture was of her and her Scatterbug as a small child.

"Marchioness Viola" a gym trainer yelled as he bounced along the spiderweb to her platform.

Viola was called back to reality and looked over at the young boy. "Zachary, what is it?"

Zachary leaped onto the platform and nearly toppled over from exhaustion. "That Amber girl is back! And she has a friend!"

Viola helped Zachary up and gave him a bottle of water. She thought for a second and sighed. "I can't deny a trainer's challenge... Send them in. I'm going to go call my sister. We'll settle this once and for all, Amber."

**. . .**

Orange walked briskly into the Santalune Gym. He stood in awe at all of the beautiful photography that surrounded the small, gray room. In the middle of the room was a large hole and going through it was a metal pole.

"So I guess I have to slide down this pole to challenge the gym leader, huh?" he said as he walked over to it.

A voice from the corner shadows of the room stopped him. "Hold it!" it yelled. The shadow revealed itself to be a tall, middle-aged man with gray hair, gray suit and pants, and black sun glasses.

Orange jumped back in fright, nearly falling into the hole, but recovered and saw the man. "Yeesh, is the theme of this gym gray?"

The man showed him away from the hole. "I'm sorry, but you cannot challenge the gym leader yet."

"Why not?!" Orange demanded to know. "Is she busy?"

The man adjusted his red tie and looked down at the young ruffian. "Precisely" he said in a stuffy tone.

"When will she be ready?"

"That is unknown to me. Perhaps you could take this time to learn patience and proper etiquette?" he leered at him.

Orange reached for his Poké Ball, deeply offended. "Why I oughta-"

"Hey, I'm here to challenge the gym leader!" a young boy said as the doors flung open with his entrance.

Orange and the stuffy man turned to see a boy who looked a bit younger and shorter than Orange. He had sky-blue hair that drooped down over his eyes a little bit and a kiddish-smile that no mother could resist. His clothing also resembled that of a little kid's, being a tight blue t-shirt and comfortable-looking baggy jeans. The t-shirt had a logo, depicting some random soft drink that no one heard of.

"Well you're going to have to wait" Orange turned to the boy. "Mister Stuffs over here says we can't go in yet.

"What?!" the little boy yelled. "That's like, so unfair! I'm going to write to my congressman about this!"

"Umm... This is Pokémon. There are no congressmen here. I'm not even sure if we have a president." Orange folded his arms in thought.

The boy tilted his head in confusion. "Isn't that a fourth wall break?"

"I dunno" Orange shrugged his shoulders. "Let's get back to the plot though."

The stuffy man sneaked out a small, two-way radio and spoke to one of the gym trainers on it. "Please inform Marchioness Viola of the return of Amber."

"Hey, what's that?" the boy pointed to the small radio that the man tried to quickly put away.

"Boy, are you daft?" the man raised his voice. "Don't you know it is horribly impolite to point?"

The boy retracted his finger and folded his arms in a cute little pout. "Maybe you're impolite."

Orange sighed and started pacing around. "Excuse me, but when will we be able to face the gym leader?"

"Yeah, I've been waiting here for ages!" the boy added.

Orange turned to the boy again. "You've only been here for two minutes."

"Well that's like a ba-jllion years in my time! Besides, I've got plans in Lum-"

The man suddenly interrupted. "Excuse me, boys. It is my pleasure to let you know that you both may now challenge the Santalune Gym."

"Finally!" the boy said as he quickly bolted ahead of Orange and slid down the pole.

"H- Hey, I was first!" Orange said as he chased the boy down the hole.

The two boys landed on a small, wooden platform that seemed to float in darkness. They desperately looked around, trying to find some light.

"Is this a part of the challenge?" the boy cried out. "Because I really don't like the dark!"

The lights suddenly flashed on, revealing them to be in the center of a gigantic spider-web. All throughout the web floated various platforms with trainers standing on each one of them.

"I guess we've got to make it through the gym trainers first" Orange said as he grabbed Chuey's Poké Ball.

"Fine, you take one side and I'll take the other. I'll race you! Winner takes on the gym leader!" the boy said as he was about to start running onto the web.

"Wait!" Orange stopped him. "I never got your name, what is it?"

The boy stopped and turned around, flashing an adorable, kid-like grin. "Name's Peri!" he said. "Short for Periwinkle, but _please_call me Peri" he stressed.

"Will do, Peri. I'm Orange, its nice to meet you! Have fun watching my back as I beat you to the finish line!"

The boys bounced along the web separate ways. Orange bounced carefully as he landed on the first platform. The young lass that stood on it held her Poké Ball up to his face and growled at him.

"You're a cocky kid, but that doesn't mean you'll get away with it a second time!" she said as she jumped back and called out her Combee.

Orange jumped back in confusion and called out Chuey. "Alright then..." he said awkwardly as Chuey appeared on the battlefield, staring down his opponent. The bandages were still on his dis-colored cheeks, which meant no Electric type attacks. "We'll have to improvise today, buddy. We still can't use moves like Thunder Shock! But its a good thing you evolved so now you've got some more power!"

The newly-evolved Chuey which was now Pikachu, turned back to his trainer and nodded.

The lass was in shock to see a different Pokémon from the red-headed devil, but more importantly to actually hear the word "Buddy" come out of its mouth. "Did you do something to your hair?" she asked.

"Excuse me?" Orange questioned.

"Maybe the chemicals in your shampoo finally got you thinking right or something..." she smiled. "Maybe this battle will be better than yesterday's!"

Orange felt bewildered, not knowing a single thing of what the girl was saying. He thought perhaps she had just not gotten enough sleep last night and shook it off. "Let's go, Chuey, use Quick Attack!"

Chuey focused and dashed at the Combee with blinding speed.

"Combee, use Gust!" the lass ordered.

Combee began flapping its wings, kicking up dust and winds that stopped its opponent's Quick Attack and sent it flying through the air.

"Chuey, recover and get close using Quick Attack!" Orange yelled.

Chuey recovered just in time to land on his feet and dashed about the battlefield at break-neck speed. Combee, confounded by its foe's speed was unable to notice how close he got until it was too late.

"Now, use Iron Tail!"

Chuey had managed to get behind his opponent and jump up, smacking it out of the air and down into the ground with a tail made of hard iron. Combee slammed hard into the ground, taken out by one hit. The one-hit K.O. left the lass with her jaw to the floor as she returned her Pokémon, accepting defeat. Today's defeat, however, didn't leave a nasty taste in her mouth like yesterday's.

Chuey ran up to his trainer and jumped in his arms, getting a congratulatory hug for winning the battle. "Good job!" his trainer said and smiled down at him.

"Well, looks like you've grown up" the lass smiled at him. "Congratulations!"

"Right..." Orange looked at her with an odd expression and resumed jumping on the web to the next platform. Next, he came face to face with a youngster that looked as angry as the lass did when she first challenged him.

"So you show your face back here again after disrespecting our gym leader, huh?" the youngster spat. He took out his Poké Ball and called out his Ledyba.

"What are you talking about?" he said as Chuey jumped out of his arms and onto the battlefield.

"Don't play stupid with us! That's insulting!" the youngster yelled. "Ledyba, use Tackle!"

Ledyba quickly slammed its body into its caught off guard opponent. Chuey flew back onto the ground from the force, but got right back up.

"Hey, that's not fair, you caught us off guard!" Orange yelled. "Chuey, are you okay?"

Chuey looked back at his trainer and gave him a thumbs up.

"Good boy! Now, let's take care of this guy with Quick Attack!"

Chuey confounded the foe with his speed and slammed his body into it, causing some serious damage as it flew back but recovered in mid-air.

"Oh yeah, just like it was so fair of you yesterday to taunt me after I lost! Ledyba, use Supersonic!"

Ledyba began rubbing its wings together, releasing a painfully loud screeching sound that made its opponent, Pokémon and trainer alike, cover their ears. The horrible noise finally subsided and Orange saw an opening to attack.

"Chuey, finish it with Iron Tail!"

Chuey looked around with a dazed look in his eyes. He stumbled around the battlefield as he tried to hit whatever he could. His tail suddenly turned to iron and began slapping him repeatedly in the face.

"Chuey, what's wrong?!" Orange yelled out.

The youngster smirked. "Supersonic confuses the opponent!" he pointed out. "Ledyba, go in for a Comet Punch!"

Ledyba swooped in and jabbed Chuey in the face three times with its large fists. Chuey fell back, holding his cheeks in pain.

"Chuey, snap out of it! We need to end this now! Hurry and use Iron Tail!"

Chuey shook his head, quickly snapping out of confusion and round housed Ledyba with a vicious Iron Tail attack that slammed it into the ground, knocking it out. The youngster groaned in disgust and returned his Pokémon. He was about ready to go off at the orange haired monster when suddenly, the next thing he saw changed his entire perspective of it.

Orange quickly ran to Chuey, seeing all of the damage done to him and fed him an Oran Berry. Chuey took the berry and ate it happily, regaining a little bit of strength.

"Wow," the youngster said as he walked over to them. "Maybe I had you figured wrong today..."

"What in the world is everyone talking about here?" Orange looked up at the boy.

Suddenly, the boy came to a shocking realization. "Oh Arceus," he said. "You're not the girl from yesterday, are you?"

"No, I'm not!" Orange snapped. "Today was my first time coming here! What do you mean girl from yesterday?" he immediately began to suspect Amber, due to their same coloration in hair.

"There was this really mean girl and her Fennekin here yesterday. She stomped us all flat!"

Orange's suspicions had became true and he sighed. "Yeah, that's my sister. I'm sorry about her."

The youngster helped Orange up and apologized for behaving the way he did. "I just thought you were here. I'm really sorry."

"Its fine" Orange smiled. "At least I had Chuey here. Without him, I would have lost!"

"Wait, him?" the boy questioned. "Have you seen your Pikachu's tail?"

Orange looked at Chuey's tail and saw noticed the V-shaped notch at the end of it. "Yeah, that just means he's special!"

"Actually, that means your Pikachu is a girl..."

Orange scoffed at the young boy. "Now you're just being weird again!"

Chuey looked up at her trainer and nodded, signaling that what the young boy said was true. Orange looked down at his now female Pikachu with complete shock. "Chuey, you're a girl?!"

Chuey nodded again.

"Just how long has this been going on?! Have you _always _been a girl?!"

Chuey slowly nodded again. Orange felt himself getting a little light headed at the shocking news. "Why didn't you say something?"

Chuey looked away in embarrassment and shame, not wanting her trainer to know.

"Its because I thought you were a boy when you first hatched and you were so excited you didn't want to upset me, isn't it?"

Chuey looked up at her trainer in shock that he actually figured it out. He said exactly what was on her mind.

Orange hugged Chuey tight. "Oh Chuey, even if I knew you were a girl back then, I still would have kept you. Silly little thing" he kissed her on the head. "Now come on, we have a race to win!"

The two, now with a better understanding of each other, took to leaping to the last platform on their side of the gym. Another youngster confronted them with a scowl on his face.

"Back for more, I see" the youngster said rudely.

Orange held his hands up. "Now hold on, I know what you're thinking, but I'm not-"

"Don't even try to play dumb and make excuses!" the youngster interrupted. "I'll never forget the way you treated your poor Fennekin! That was so wrong of you to make it keep fighting after it fainted!" he yelled, sending out his Spewpa in an angry frenzy.

Orange let Chuey go onto the battlefield. "Please, kid, you've got this all wrong" he pleaded. "I'm not Am-"

"Shutup!" the youngster cried out. Tears began forming in his eyes. "You shouldn't even call yourself a trainer after the way you called your Fennekin weak!"

"I'm _not _Amber! What, do I have to pull down my pants to prove it to you?!" Orange yelled with his hand on his belt buckle.

The youngster stopped and wiped the tears from his eyes, taking a few deep breaths and realizing that it was a young boy standing in front of him, not the abusive witch he battled yesterday. "I'm sorry..." he said as he went to shake Orange's hand.

Peri appeared on the platform behind them and ran up to Orange. "Orange, what's happening? Everyone here is acting all strange."

Orange turned to him while shaking the boy's hand. "Oh hey, Peri. My sister came through yesterday and made a real mess of things here in the gym. Everyone thought I was her and you were with me, so that's probably why.

Peri wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank Kyogre! I thought it was me. So what happens next?"

"Well, follow me" the youngster said as he cleared the tears from his eyes. "I'll go tell the gym leader there's been a mistake.

The three began bouncing around on the web towards the gym leader. The second they set foot on the gym leader's platform, a girl with blonde hair, white t-shirt, and green pants stepped out from behind a large photograph with an angry look on her face.

"Viola, there's be-"

Viola interrupted the young boy. "No need to explain, Zachary. I saw how they made you cry."

"Don't worry" an equally menacing female voice said. "We'll make them pay." Another girl stepped out from the photograph, looking identical to Viola. Her hair was a little darker and she wore a black and red shirt with brown jeans.

"Wait, I'm confused" Peri said as he looked back and forth between the two women. "Which one of you is the gym leader?"

"I am" Viola spoke up. "But after the trouble _you _caused yesterday, I wanted to teach you a lesson that you won't soon forget. This is my sister, Alexa."

"How you treat your Pokémon is unforgivable" Alexa stomped. "Trainers like you make me sick."

"Marchioness Viola, Duchess Alexa, please! These two aren't-"

"Save it" Viola said as she took out her Poké Ball. "We know. They need to be punished. Let's make this a quick two-on-two battle."

"You won't forget this" Alexa scowled. "Go, Helioptile!"

"Go, Vivillon!" Viola yelled.

Two Pokémon appeared on the battlefield. One of beautiful, elegant manner and the other an odd-looking, yellow reptile-like Pokémon.

"What in the world is that?" Orange said as he reached for his Pokédex, but before he could get to it, Peri already had his out.

"Its a Helioptile" Peri said. "I have no clue what kind of Pokémon it is, so let's find out! Go, Torchic!" He threw a Poké Ball into the air and out came a small, fiery, chick-like Pokémon.

"Oh hey, I've heard of Torchic before. They're Fire types, aren't they?" Orange asked as he let Chuey out of his arms and onto the battlefield.

Peri nodded his head. "Yep, sure are! Perfect for a battle like this!"

The two Pokémon on the boys' side stared down their opponents. Tension grew thicker in the air as Viola and Alexa grew angrier with each second.

Peri bravely called out the first move. "Torchic, use Focus Energy!"

Orange followed Peri's call with an order of his own. "Chuey, use Growl!"

Torchic began focusing his energy, concentrating deeply while Chuey stood in front of him and intimidatingly growled their opponents into lowering their Attack.

"Helioptile, use Thunder Shock!"

"Vivillon, use Gust behind it!"

Helioptile jumped up and released crackling bolts of electricity. Vivillon got behind Helioptile and flapped its beautiful wings, sending gusts of wind that propelled the Thunder Shock alarmingly fast at their opponents.

"Guys, look out!" Orange yelled.

Torchic suddenly pushed Chuey out of the way with speed that left everyone shocked.

"That's Torchic's Speed Boost ability! It gains Speed every turn!" Peri smiled.

"That's pretty cool" Orange said. "Come on, Chuey, get in there with a Quick Attack!"

Chuey began charging at her foes with amazing speed.

Peri turned to Orange with a concerned look. "Orange, why aren't you making Chuey use Thunder Shock?"

Orange sighed. "She can't. We'll talk about it later!"

"Fine then. Torchic, use Ember!"

Chuey quickly slammed her body into Vivillon, causing a decent amount of damage. She quickly got out of the way as Torchic fired off scolding hot balls of fire from his mouth that barraged Vivillon, causing it to faint.

"Whoa, nice job" Orange high-fived Peri.

Peri folded his arms and smirked a cute grin. "Ah, it was nothing!" he said smugly.

"Darn it! I'm sorry, Vivillon" Viola frowned as she returned her Pokémon to the safety of its Poké Ball.

"Don't forget you have me to deal with!" Alexa shouted. "Helioptile, use Mud Slap!"

Helioptile stomped the ground and kicked up a torrent of mud that shot directly into Torchic's eyes, causing a good amount of damage and lowering his Accuracy.

"Torchic!" Peri cried out.

"Don't worry, I've got it! Chuey, use Iron Tail!"

Chuey ran up to her opponent and smacked it across the face with a tail as thick as iron, but it didn't seem to do much damage.

"Now, Helioptile, use Thunder Shock!" Alexa quickly yelled.

Helioptile released bolts of electricity that shocked Chuey. Suddenly, her cheeks began crackling with electricity. She winced in pain from the electricity running through her cheeks, but didn't seem to be effected by the Thunder Shock one bit.

"What's going on here? How come Thunder Shock didn't cause any damage?" Alexa questioned.

"Chuey, don't use any Electric type attacks! Your cheeks haven't healed yet!" Orange cried out.

Chuey stood there with a massive amount of electricity running through her cheeks, causing a great deal of pain. She soon began trying to concentrate it somewhere else. Her body began moving the electricity down to her paw. With a mighty roar, she stood up with her fist crackling with electricity and socked Helioptile in the stomach, sending it into the wall, knocking it out.

Everyone stood there baffled at the Pikachu. No one knew what just happened. It took a few seconds to realize that Orange and Peri won the battle. The second they were aware of it, the two ran over to their Pokémon and picked them up, congratulating them and hugging them tight. Peri cleaned the mud out of Torchic's eyes using the bottom of his shirt and smiled at him while Orange picked up his Pikachu and hugged her as tight as possible.

"We did it, Chuey! We beat them and you learned Thunder Punch!" Orange cheered.

"Yeah, good job Torchic! You too, Orange and Chuey!" Peri added.

Viola and Alexa approached the two with apologetic looks on their faces.

"Orange, was it?" Viola asked. Orange nodded and she sighed. "Me and my sister are sorry about how we acted."

"Yeah, we shouldn't have assumed you were the same person as yesterday just because of your hair color" Alexa groaned and playfully shoved her sister.

Viola dug in her pockets and took out two gym badges. "Well at any rate, I present you two with the Viola Gym Badge!"

Orange and Peri happily took the gym badges with pride and nearly exploded with excitement.

"Aw cool, my first gym badge!" Peri held it up in the air and the light shined off of it.

Orange looked over at Peri and saw the light shine down on him. He could feel something strange in the pit of his stomach, like an uncanny admiration for the boy, but also a feeling of rivalry. "Hey, it shines!" Orange said.

"Oh and I might as well give you two these as well" Viola handed each of them a light green disc. The two boys looked at them oddly and she instantly knew she would have to explain the discs to them. "Those are called TM's. You can use them to teach moves to your Pokémon. That one's TM 83 and it contains Infestation! Its a shame I didn't get a chance to use it, but that just proves how good you two are!"

"Oh cool, so I could teach this to my Pikachu?"

"Well, not exactly" Viola laughed. "Its a Bug type move, so I don't think your Pikachu would be able to learn it."

Peri sighed. "Well I guess my Torchic is out of the question too..."

"Hey, don't worry guys!" Viola smiled. "I'm sure you'll find a use for it!"

"Thank you for the gym match, Viola and Alexa" Orange smiled and shook each of their hands.

"Yeah, thanks a ton! It was so awesome!" Peri excitedly shook their hands and ran off.

Orange started after Peri, but Viola called for his name and he stopped in his tracks.

"Orange!" she yelled. "That girl's name was Amber. She looks a lot like you. I don't know if you two are related, but don't turn out like her. You've got some bond there with your Pikachu. Make your time with her count!"

Orange stood there for a second, somewhat shocked by Viola's words, but a part of him half expected something like that from her. If anything, he was more worried about not turning into his father, but he never expected to have to worry about turning into his sister. He nodded back at Viola and left the gym with his head held a little lower than when he got the gym badge, but it was still high.

As he stepped out onto Route 4 underneath the warm, afternoon sun, he couldn't help but think about his sister. Alleged claims of her abusing her Fennekin? Rumors of her not trusting her Pokémon? Everything they said made him feel like he was in a dream. It reminded him briefly of the night of his father's disappearance. He could still feel the rain hit his face and the sharp wind peck at him as he felt the last memory of his father run through his head.

"_Orange, don't do this!"_

Red's final words echoed throughout Orange's head for the rest of the afternoon. The faintest of devious, almost devilish smirks broke through Orange's happy exterior.


	7. Dread of Night

**It has since come to my attention that Professor Sycamore's assistant's name is Dexio, not Dexin. I have since changed it, but if you find any errors, please alert me as soon as possible.**

* * *

Pokémon Z Version

Chapter 7

Dread of Night

The dark clouds in the night sky parted, giving way to the glistening moon that stood silently in the midnight sky. Calm, cool winds blew through the flowers that dotted the pathway on the route. Orange grabbed the straps of his backpack and looked up at the midnight sky, the smirk-like expression still stuck on his face.

The moonlight shined down on the flowers. Tiny, white Pokémon began to rise from underneath the bountiful beds of flowers. They took flowers with them as the floated up into the sky. Orange stopped, astonished by the beautiful sight of the flowers floating across the midnight sky.

"What's going on here?" he said as he looked around at the Pokémon dancing in the sky.

"Those are called Flabébé!" a nice, friendly voice said.

Orange turned around to see a very young man with blonde hair dressed in a white lab coat approaching him. Accompanied next to the man was an equally as young woman with purple hair and the same white lab coat.

"Who are you two?" Orange said, eying the man and woman carefully.

The man adjusted his blue tie and smiled at him. "My name is Dexio, and this is my partner, Sina. We're both assistants to Professor Sycamore."

"Professor Sycamore?" he thought to himself. Suddenly it became clear in his head that he completely forgot about meeting the professor in Lumiose City. "Oh yeah, that's where I'm heading off to now. Lumiose City. To meet the professor. Totally didn't forget!"

"Well we're glad you didn't forget!" Sina smiled at him. "Oh, look!"

Everyone turned their attention to the floating Flabébé that now appeared to be heading down the route. The wind gracefully pushed them across the skies as they scattered little showers of fairy dust-like energy from the bulbs of their beautiful flowers.

"Let's follow them!" Dexio proposed as Sina and Orange followed behind him at a fast walking pace in order to keep up.

After a while of walking, Dexio turned to Orange and started making small talk. "So, did you know that Flabébé is a Fairy type Pokémon?"

Dexio alerted Orange's curiosity as he turned to him with a puzzled look. "Fairy type? I don't think I've ever heard of that before."

"It was just discovered a while ago. Apparently some Pokémon even like Jigglypuff are effected y it" Dexin said.

"It completely changes the type match-up scale!" Sina exclaimed. "Fairy types are resistant against Bug, Fighting, and Dark type moves and is completely unaffected by Dragon type moves. However, they can't exactly cause much damage to Fire, Poison, and Steel types. Speaking of that, Poison and Steel type moves are super effective against them, so keep that in mind" she winked.

The three followed the large group of Flabébé to a gorgeous, tall water fountain that stood in the middle of the road. The Flabébé all congregated around it, dancing in a most magnificent manner that was sure to calm the fiercest of hearts. Beautiful, scarlet petals from their flowers floated down to the earth.

"This is so beautiful..." Orange said as he basked in the graceful falling of the petals. His curiosity was suddenly turned to the two lab assistants. "So why are you guys out here?" he asked.

"Ah, see Professor Sycamore wanted us to do some field work on these Flabébé. Apparently this is a ritual of theirs to do every night." Dexio said as he took out a note pad and started jotting down words like no one's business.

Orange picked up a flower petal by his foot and the devilish smirk that tried to shine its way through disappeared. He suddenly felt calm and the memories of his father were washed away by a feeling of peace and bliss. "Wow, these petals are really soothing. Wait, these are part of a flower, so does that mean Flabébé are part Grass type as well?"

Sina shook her head. "That's the same thing we thought at first, but no, they're pure Fairy type. Its odd because they always carry around a flower."

"It seems as if Flabébé can draw out the power of their flowers" Dexio said as he looked up from his note pad every now and then.

"So its flower power?" Orange said as he looked down at the petal in his hand.

"Precisely!" Sina nodded. "Boy, Dexio, if you don't be careful, this boy is going to have your job" she teased him.

Dexio groaned and adjusted his tie in a slightly annoyed manner. "Sina, must you joke around? This is serious business here and I don't see you taking any notes."

Sina scoffed at her partner's remarks and turned away from him, folding her arms. "I'll have you know I'm observing, thank you very much!"

An odd chill suddenly ran down their spines as the air around them began to cool off. The Flabébé fell deadly silent as the winds ceased blowing altogether.

"Dexio, what's happening?" Sina said as she backed up close to him.

Dexio quickly stood up, tucked his note pad away and took out a Poké Ball. "I'm not sure but no doubt this isn't normal. Everyone, stay close to me."

Orange nodded his head and formed a triad back to back with the two professors. Sina had now taken out her Poké Ball and gripped it in her hand tight. Backed together, Orange could feel her intense, fast beating heart beat. She was scared, which he found odd if she was a field agent. Dexio remained calm, not showing the slightest bit of fear, but his body gave off an abundant amount of heat that was most likely due to the intense mood change in the air.

A low growling sound came from the trees off in the distance. Everyone immediately whipped their heads to see nothing but trees. The Flabébé began to quiver and shake in unimaginable fear as this looked as if it were the first time for anything to ever happen like this.

"Something feels off..." Dexin said, adjusting his tie again. "Its as if this area is imbalanced..."

"I feel it too" Sina agreed.

Orange turned to them both confused. "Wait, I don't understand. How can you feel whether or not the area is balanced?"

"Its just a field researcher thing. When you've been out in the field for as long as we have, you learn a few tricks..." Dexio kept looking around.

The low growling sound grew louder and louder as footsteps could be heard stomping from down the trail. The three kept looking around but to no avail. All they saw were trees and flowers. Suddenly, a wild, tree-like Pokémon with arms as thick as tree branches. The horribly large Pokémon stood taller than a six-foot tree and resembled one as well. There were ominous leaves on its head and a body made of thick, but ghostly-looking trunk of a hollowed tree. The eeriest quality of this large Pokémon had to have been the one red eye it had, glaring angrily at them from the darkness as it charged toward the fountain with a mighty roar.

The mighty Pokémon raised its wide arm up into the air and swatted at the Flabébé as if they were baseballs and its arms were the bats. Orange, Dexin, and Sina all stood equally astonished at the sight of what could only be called an anomaly of Route 4.

"What IS that thing?!" Orange yelled with his eyes widened, watching in horror as the angry monster swung its large tree-trunk arms at the small Pokémon.

Dexio took a quick moment to gather his thoughts from his shock and came to a conclusion. "That's a Trevenant. The Elder Tree Pokémon. Part Ghost and part Grass types."

The force of the Trevenant's arms whipped up razor sharp winds that pushed the three humans back from their standing spots.

Sina quickly stood up and brushed the dirt off of herself. "But a Trevenant being here is completely wrong! They're native to Route 20, what's going on here?"

"I don't know" Dexio said as he raised his Poké Ball. "But we must take it out before it causes any more harm."

Sina raised his Poké Ball with him. "Agreed."

Orange took out Chuey's Poké Ball and held it in between his fingers up in the air with the two assistants. "I'll help too!"

"Go, Minun!" Dexio yelled as he chucked his Poké Ball in the air as hard as he could. It flew across the sky over to the fountain and out came a small, blue and cream colored electrical mouse-like Pokémon. Its tail made the distinct shape of a minus sign.

"Go, Plusle!" Sina yelled as she threw her Poké Ball along with Dexin. Another small Pokémon like Dexio's, only red with a distinct plus sign tail appeared on the battlefield.

Orange sent out his only Pokémon, Chuey, who still had the bandages on her cheeks which meant she couldn't participate in any long range attacks.

The monster Trevenant roared, shaking the trees and grounds all around it and turned to the three heroes. Its red eye glared horribly into their souls, making an ominous, scary, cold feeling go down their spines. As they were forced to look back at the monster's horrible glare, they slowly began to quiver and shiver. The heroes' Pokémon ran back to their trainers unwillingly and hid behind their legs out of fear. The feeling of dread was upon them, and it was heavy.

It was the dread of night.

"I've never seen a Trevenant this upset..." Sina trembled.

Orange picked up Chuey and held her close to his ninety mile per hour beating heart. "Why is it doing that?"

Dexio tightened his tie and regained his composure, knowing that if he could then it would give the other two some much needed support. "Come on you two, we must remain apt in the face of danger. Those Pokémon need us. Now, let's split up."

Sina and Orange looked at Dexio who seemed so calm and willing and they nodded. The three quickly made a break for it while the monster continued swatting the defenseless Flabébé around in the air. They soon all made it to opposite sides of the Trevenant, forming a heroic triangle around it.

"What's next, Dexin?" Orange yelled out to him.

"Now, we-"

The monstrous Trevenant saw the three heroes around it and roared, shaking the ground beneath them. It whipped its tree trunk arms around and smacked everything within a six foot radius out of its way. The three heroes flew back, overwhelmed by the extreme force the monster exhibited.

"This thing is strong!" Orange said as he slowly got up, holding his shoulder in pain.

"We need to immobilize it, Dexin!" Sina requested. "Plusle, use Nuzzle!"

Dexin looked at her and agreed. "Minun, you use Nuzzle too!"

The two small Pokémon approached the monster at great speed. Trevenant took notice and swung its huge arms at them, but they used this to their advantage. Plusle and Minun allowed themselves to be hammered by the monster's extremely huge arms for the sake of pulling off a Nuzzle attack. The two allowed the monster to it them cheek first. After recovering from the initial pain the hit caused, the two managed to rub their cheeks against Trevenant's arms, successfully pulling off a Nuzzle attack and paralyzing it. Plusle and Minun flew back in opposite directions and Sina and Dexin dove, just barely catching them.

Trevenant roared as paralysis struck it like a freight train. It tried to move its big arms but to no prevail. The monster was completely out of sound options and began to lose its mind as if it hadn't already lost it. It began firing multiple Hyper Beams in all directions out of anger and possibly fear. The three heroes took cover from it and tried to think of a new plan.

Behind the bush they hid, Orange turned to Dexio and Sina with a face of grave fear and concern. "Are your Pokémon okay?"

"Yes, they should be fine" Dexin said as he petted Minun. Minun looked up at him half conscious, in pain. "What I'm more worried about are those Flabébé out there. They're all still too scared too move and they're being swatted like flies."

"That was really brave, what you guys did" Orange said, changing the subject for a brief second.

Sina smiled down at he Plusle and rubbed the blood from a wound on its side. "Well, when you've been working as long as Dexin and I have, you start to gain an appreciation and connection to the Pokémon around you. We weren't just going to sit by and watch these Flabébé be killed."

"Killed?" Orange gulped. "Wait, Pokémon can die?" Suddenly he was stricken with painful flashbacks of his father on the night of his disappearance. It pained him with a throbbing headache, but for some reason it felt odd. As if it were pleasing.

"Just like humans, Pokémon can also live and die" Dexio sighed. "But enough of this. I will not sit here any longer and watch as these innocent Flabébé are killed. We need a plan and we need one fast."

"It looks as if Orange is the only one that can fight" Sina pointed out. "Orange, what does your Pikachu know?"

"She knows Quick Attack, Growl, Iron Tail, and Thunder Punch" he said.

Dexio rubbed his chin for a second. "Iron Tail seems like it would cause some damage. Well, certainly not alone, but with help it could put a dent in that Trevenant's health points. Orange, its up to you and your Pikachu now. We'll provide help with Helping Hand, seeing as how we can't fight."

Orange nodded and stood up from the bushes with Chuey, ready to fight. Dexio suddenly stopped him again to add one more thing. "Oh and Orange," he started. "Be careful. This Pokémon will not hesitate to crush everything in its path that threatens it. I don't know how it got like this, but we need to stop it."

Orange nodded again, this time a little more anxious and frightened by the situation. It made him regret standing up from the bushes to fight so quickly, but he knew what had to be done. He started running towards Trevenant with Chuey. Chuey began glowing, signaling that she received power from both Minun and Plusle with Helping Hand.

The Trevenant looked to see Orange running towards it and it roared once again. It raised one of its large arms up to hammer down on him, but was suddenly stricken with paralysis and rendered unable to move for a short time.

"Orange, now's your chance!" Dexin screamed.

Orange closed his eyes, too afraid to see and yelled "Chuey, use Iron Tai-"

But suddenly, another loud, but at the same time beautiful and intimidating roar came from the distance. This time the roar appeared to come within the flowers. Everyone, Pokémon included, stopped and turned to see a large, green, beautiful, flower-like Pokémon arise from the dark bed of flowers. Its lower body resembled a green mermaid tail while it had beautiful, breath-taking red flowers around its head.

The beautiful giant of a Pokémon called forth the power of the moon with roar and shot a powerful blast struck the monstrous Trevenant with a harsh blow to the chest. It fell back, but immediately got back up and with a mighty roar, charged at the beautiful Pokémon, slamming it in the face with horridly powerful Wood Hammer attack.

"What is that thing?!" Orange yelled back at the assistants.

Dexio and Sina could only watch in awe as the beautiful Pokémon grabbed the Trevenant's legs with a Vine Whip attack and sent it hurdling into the air as if it were an incredibly easy effort.

"That's Florges..." Dexio stammered as he and Sina continued watching with their jaws to the ground.

"The final evolution of Flabébé..." Sina added.

The lovely Garden Pokémon, Florges, saw her hurt friends and the humans that tried to protect them with all of their might. She began humming gently as the ground all around them sprouted with grass that felt relaxing, almost soothing as it restored health to all that felt it.

"What is this? I feel like I wanna take a nap on it" Orange said as he felt the grass beneath him.

"I'm not even sure I know for myself" Dexio said astonishingly.

Sina shook her head. "I can't say I know either, but this Florges is helping us as well. She sees us as her allies."

"You there, Child of the Viridian Forest, one that can hear my inner voice" Florges suddenly said as she looked directly at Orange.

Orange, at first, didn't believe what he was hearing. "Did you just talk?"

Florges smiled at him. "Yes, I did."

"But how?!" Orange yelled, baffled. "Your lips aren't even moving!"

"This grass has awakened you as a Child of the Viridian forest. Children like you are granted powers to connect with Pokémon on a level far superior to any other human. You have the power to hear the inner voice of Pokémon. You have done a great deed for me and my friends today, but the battle is still not over. We ask for your help and the help of your human friends!"

Orange stood there, completely and utterly shocked at what he just heard. He could barely make any sense of it whatsoever, but the words "Child of the Viridian Forest" echoed in the recesses of his mind. Could it be that he somehow always knew something like this?

Crushing anymore time for Orange to ponder what Florges said, Trevenant came crashing down to the ground with a mighty thud, kicking up dirt and dust everywhere. It slowly got back onto its feet and roared with anger and frustration.

"Please, the time is now, o' Child!" Florges yelled. "Wed your strength with mine so that we may defeat this Trevenant!"

Orange nodded and called Dexio and Sina over to him as they all ran to stand by Florges's side. The Flabébé all congregated around them, ready to attack.

"Dexio, Sina, I'll explain later, but right now Florges and these Flabébé need us to help them."

The Trevenant began slowly charging at them with an awfully powerful Giga Impact attack.

"I need you two to use Helping Hand on Chuey."

Dexio and Sina looked at each other oddly.

"How is it going to he-"

"Please, just do it!" Orange cried.

Dexio and Sina followed orders, telling their Pokémon to use Helping Hand. Plusle and Minun shared their power with Chuey by touching their tails together. Little sparks of electricity flew from the center of their tails as Chuey began to glow with power again.

Orange looked up at Florges and nodded. "Florges, we're ready."

Florges brought Chuey up to her head with Psychic. Chuey stood on top, ready as Florges and all of the Flabébé began calling on the power of the moon.

Trevenant roared at the gathering energy and began charging at break-neck speed.

"Now!" Florges yelled as all of the Fairy Pokémon fired off Moonblasts together, propelling Chuey in front of the blast.

Trevenant's eye grew wide as it saw the little Electric Mouse Pokémon riding the combined Moonblast towards it.

"Now, Chuey!" Orange yelled. "Use Thunder Punch!"

Trevenant roared and summoned its remaining power, putting all it had into the Giga Impact, put Chuey simply smiled as her fist crackled with electricity. She jumped off the beam and nailed a powerful Thunder Punch to the Trevenant's face. Suddenly, a red beam shot at Chuey and dematerialized her. Orange floated in the air with the help of Florges's Psychic and returned Chuey to her Poké Ball before she was caught in the blast. The blast collided with Trevenant, sending a massive outward shock force that resulted in a huge explosion, sending dirt and dust everywhere.

Once the dirt and dust cleared, there lay Trevenant in a crater of crackling shocks of power, defeated. Everyone celebrated at their combined efforts as Florges floated Orange down to the ground.

"We did it!" Sina cheered with her Plusle.

"That was truly outstanding!" Dexin smiled.

Off in the distance, the sky was beginning to turn a nice, bright shade of orange. The morning sun was beginning to rise over the mountains far off across the land.

Florges turned to Orange and smiled at him. "Thank you for your help, o' Child."

Orange turned to her with a confused look on his face. "Florges, how did you know I was a Child of the Viridian Forest?"

"I could sense the power hidden inside of you. It had been locked away for so many years, but now it is free."

"What _are _my powers, exactly?"

"O' Child, you have the gift of hearing the inner voice of Pokémon you have connected with."

"So we've connected then?"

"For the sake of the Pokémon of this area, yes, a connection was forced. Orange de Viridian Grove, you are one in a million. Not many people are blessed with a gift like this. Through growing up and putting aside horrid memories, you have helped in unlocking your power. Please, use them wisely."

Orange felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. "You know of my father?" he asked nervously.

Florges closed her eyes and sighed. "I know not of your father, but only of the actions that took place on that day. Do not let your past memories plague you, o' Child. You are one whose light shines brightly in spite of the past. You are not at malfeasance, young one. Keep these words with you, for they are true."

Orange looked up at her in disbelief, but smiled after thinking about her words. "Thank you, Florges. I know what I've done. It hurts everyday, but I _know _what I've done."

"It has been my pleasure meeting the one who will put Kalos back in balance, o' Child. Please, have safe travels."

And with that, Florges and the Flabébé began to take their leave to go rest in the flowerbeds. After waving goodbye to them, the three began walking down the route towards Lumiose City, casually conversing.

Something suddenly struck Orange in his mind. Florges's voice could be heard in his thoughts, but only to him, as she requested one last thing of him. "O' young child, there is a Pokémon that disdainfully roams the skies. If you see her on your travels, please, help her."

"I will" Orange said in his thoughts. With that, Florges's voice faded from his mind and he was left to continue his travels to become a Pokémon Master.

* * *

**AN: What do you guys think of the story so far?**


	8. The Gogoat Shuttle

**AN: Sorry for the slow update! College and whatnot has me tangled right now. Also, sorry for the short length of this chapter, but I just couldn't bring myself to drag out the conversation much longer. Besides, all that's been going on in the story for a while is battling. I feel its good to just have a chapter of dialogue every now and then. Also it furthers the plot a little.**

**At some point in this chapter, someone speaks Old Scottish. I have a translation table right here for everything that you may not be able to understand.**

I'll gie ye a skelpit lug! - _I'll give you a slap on the ear!_

Ye - _You_

Whit - _What_

Gaunnae – _Going to_

Haud yer wheesht! - _Be quiet!_

Crabbit – _Bad Tempered_

Wee - _Little_

Bairn – _Baby/Youngling_

Dinnae – _Don't_

Didnae – _Didn't_

Lang may yer lum reek! - _May you live long and stay well!_

**AN: Please, enjoy! And as always, leave a review or favorite or whatever! Criticism is appreciated!**

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Pokémon Z Version

Chapter 8

The Gogoat Shuttle

Following last night's unexpected turn of events on Route 4, Orange, Dexio, and Sina all found it increasingly hard to fall asleep at Lumiose City's Pokémon Center. Orange especially found it hard to get to sleep after what the giant Florges told him.

He stayed awake in the lobby, sprawled out on one of the red couches. "Do I really have the power to talk to Pokémon? And what's this about me being a Child of the Viridian Forest? I was born in Pallet Town... Nowhere near Viridian City nor the forest." His mind raced with questions which gave him a headache, but more importantly, it finally gave him an excuse to try and go to sleep. With questions barreling through his head at about ninety miles per hour, sleep was the last thing for him.

That very next morning, Orange awoke to find out that he had been left by Dexio and Sina. Remembering that the chosen Pokédex Holders, however many they were, are congregating at Professor Sycamore's lab in that exact city, he immediately rushed out of the door and onto the busy streets. Hundreds of people populated the sidewalks as each of them shoved their way through each other to get to their destinations. The streets were littered with taxi cabs, regular cars and trucks, and delivery vehicles that all seemed to be in some sort of traffic jam.

Orange, seeing there was no possible way to get through the crowd to make it all the way down the street to Professor Sycamore's lab, stayed glued to the outside walls of the Pokémon Center. He took out Chuey's Poké Ball and sighed as he stared at it. "Maybe if we just shock everyone, they'll move."

Something suddenly caught Orange's eye. It was a blue a sign off across the street. He could squint his eyes and just barely make out the word "Shuttle" on it and figured it might have been another means of transportation. Of course, this meant that he would have to brave the dangerous, thick crowd and cross the sea of metal contraptions that roared with people inside of them.

He pushed himself off the wall and dove into the crowd. He fought tooth and nail with taller people to get through with each and every person dragging him along in their direction. It took a while of ducking underneath people's legs and secretly holding on to people until he finally stepped out onto the fresh asphalt and almost fell onto a car. It was now time for more awesome maneuvering as he weaved and bobbed in between stopped vehicles. Many honked their horn at him, which only slowed his movements until reaching the other side of the street.

Once Orange set foot on the sidewalk, Chuey unexpectedly popped out of her Poké Ball and started teasing him. "Woo! Way to go, James Bond!"

Orange turned to her and sighed in an annoyed manner with his hands on his hips. "Excuse me, little lady, but do you even know who James Bond is?"

"Nope!" Chuey shook her head and giggled. "But I know he was a lot more agile than Mister 'I'm Just Going To Hang Onto This Person's Leg And Hope For The Best'."

"I think I liked you better when I couldn't talk to you" Orange groaned.

Chuey jumped up on Orange's shoulder and rubbed her cheek against his. "Oh come on!" she begged. "You know you _love _talking to me!"

Orange sighed as he scratched her behind the ear and smiled at her. "Bah, you're right!" He knew he couldn't resist her adorableness.

The two soon caught sight of the blue sign they saw from across the street and walked up to it.

"Gogoat Shuttle..." Orange read aloud. "What do you think it is?" he asked, looking at his partner.

Chuey shot an equally confused look back at him, which led him to push the red button on the sign. The screen flashed and changed, showing a list of options.

"This must be places to go" Orange said.

Chuey pressed her paw against one of the options at random. "There we go!"

"Chuey!" Orange yelled. "What's your problem?!"

"You were taking too long, silly!" Chuey smiled at him.

The two stopped arguing to turn and see a large, green, goat-like Pokémon with magnificent horns walking up to them.

"Wait, so the actual shuttle is a Pokémon?" Orange said, bewildered.

The Gogoat nodded his head and lowered its body to the ground. Orange climbed on top of it and sat, gripping its horns tightly.

"Aye!" the Gogoat screamed. "Not so hard or I'll gie ye a skelpit lug!"

Orange jumped back, nearly falling off the shuttle. "Y- You can talk?!"

The Gogoat bucked a little bit and bleated. "Now does that sound like talking to ye?"

"No," Orange shook his head. "That must mean I'm hearing your inner voice, right?"

"Aye, laddie. Now whit are we gaunnae?"

"Umm... To Professor Sycamore's laboratory."

Gogoat nodded and started walking slowly down the sidewalk, away from all of the people.

Orange groaned at the slow speed of the seemingly old goat and Gogoat immediately took offense. "Oy! Haud yer wheesht!"

"Well its not like you're going fast! Besides, I'm kind of in a hurry!"

"Ye know, back in me day, the Children of the Viridian Forest weren't so crabbit!"

Orange gasped, taken aback to what Florges called him. It suddenly hit him that it wasn't any ordinary Gogoat that he was riding. "You know I'm a Child of the Viridian Forest?"

"Aye, ye wee bairn. I'm one of the Ancient Myriad, we can spot Children from miles away."

"The Ancient Myriad?" Orange tilted his head in confusion. "What's that?"

Gogoat sighed in a rather annoyed manner. "By the gods! Ye bairns dinnae anything aboot the old days!"

Orange rolled his eyes. "Can you please stop talking in that accent?"

"For the sake of yer wee, sacred ears, I'll speak in yer accent, lest I'll gie ye a skelpit lug!" Gogoat cleared his throat and begin recanting the old legend of the Ancient Myriad. "Thousands of years ago, there lived an ancient race of Pokémon that served under the king of the now Kalos Region. I'm one of them and judging by the ripe feel of your powers, you just met Florges not too long ago. He was a kind, peaceful ruler and there were so many of us. He was the first Child of the Viridian Forest and his power was very great. But as his rule began taking a self-righteous turn, we left him."

"How come he started turning bad?"

Gogoat let out a depressed sigh. "None of us really know. Its been speculated among us that someone or something mad him so mad with his power that a vicious war broke out. We all fought in the war, but since then, we haven't seen each other."

Orange pulled back on Gogoat's horns, causing him to bleat loudly in pain.

"Aye, laddie, what do ya think yer doing?!"

"Come on, Gogoat! Florges is just on Route 4! We could go see her right now!"

Gogoat shook his head and stayed on path on the sidewalk. "I can't do that, wee bairn. My duty here is to help these humans now."

"But you've been alive for thousands of years!" Orange stretched his arms. "And you haven't seen any of your friends in a really long time! Aren't you lonely?"

"No, not really" Gogoat said. "I might be ancient, but I'm still a Gogoat. Us Gogoat are able to sense the feelings of humans when they touch our horns. It may not seem like much in the ways of companionship, but I always get thanked for the rides."

Orange petted Gogoat softly on his head. "What if you came along with us?"

Gogoat chuckled at the thought of being owned by a child. "Aye, laddie, I think you're a wee bit inexperienced for a Pokémon as myself."

"I don't have to battle with you" Orange frowned. "Just keep you company!"

"Thanks for the offer" Gogoat shook his head. "But I'm needed here now. In the future when I'm not, I'll go somewhere else."

Orange sighed and hugged Gogoat. "I hate being alone. I can't imagine what its like to be thousands of years old."

"Its quite a life" Gogoat smiled. "It may be lonely, but I've seen some things."

"So who else is in the Myriad?"

"Now that, I can't tell ye" Gogoat chuckled. "You'll have to find out for yourself."

"Oh come on" Orange groaned.

Gogoat arrived in front of a large building and looked up at it. "Well, we're here" he sighed.

Orange slowly hopped off with Chuey still on his shoulder. "Thank you, Gogoat. I really appreciate the ride" he hugged him again.

"Anytime" Gogoat smiled down at him. "Every Myriad you come in contact with helps your powers grow. Keep on watch for them, wee bairn."

"Thank you, Gogoat" Orange nodded his head. "I will. Is there anything I can do for you? I just hate how it seems so lonely."

Gogoat thought for a second and came up with the perfect idea for the young boy. "Aye, there just might be. There's a very special Skiddo on Route 5. He's my grandson. If you run into him, please, find him a good home."

Orange nodded his head again. "I promise, I will. Its the least I can do."

"Thank ye, laddie" Gogoat smiled as he turned around and began walking away.

Orange watched as the Mount Pokémon slowly walked down the sidewalk, seeming a little happier than he did before. Suddenly, something came into his head that made him shout down the busy sidewalk. "Gogoat!" he yelled.

Gogoat stopped and turned his head back "Yes, wee bairn?"

Orange closed his eyes and began communicating with his mind to Gogoat. "My powers have grown stronger, thanks to us coming in contact. But I have to ask you, like Florges, do you know of my past?"

Gogoat took a long pause before finally answering. "Yes, I do."

"Florges it says it wasn't my fault what happened to him, but I think it was. What do you think?"

"I cannot say" Gogoat sighed. "This matter isn't mine to have an opinion on. You must battle the demons inside you yourself. Its entirely possible that you could be direct cause for what happened to your father. But its also entirely possible that you aren't the cause. This is one answer you must find yourself."

Orange hung his head and put his hands in his pockets. "I see" he frowned. "Thank you, Gogoat."

"Lang may yer lum reek!" Gogoat said, bidding Orange a farewell.

Orange took what the Gogoat said to mind and stood outside of Professor Sycamore's laboratory, thinking about that horrible, fateful event with his father. "Florges says it wasn't my fault... Gogoat says I need to find out on my own..."

Chuey playfully headbutted Orange's cheek and chimed in. "Hey, c'mon!" she said. "Don't start getting all sad and stuff! I was there too, remember?"

"That's right"Orange sighed. "What do you think?"

Chuey looked down for a second and back up at Orange with a serious face. "Well, we did what had to be done. If we didn't do what we did, who knows where we would be right now? I probably wouldn't be here with the best trainer in the world if we didn't do it."

"Yeah, he took you away. I still hate him for that. I really hate him for that. But I don't know, Chuey. Did we do the right thing?"

"There was no other option," she said. "It had to be done."

Orange took a deep breath and cleared his mind. "Thanks, Chuey" he kissed her on the head. "That means a lot. Now, let's put that behind us and go meet the others and Professor Sycamore!"

Chuey nodded her head in agreement and the two rushed into the laboratory, ready to be reunited with their friends for the first time in a few days. He was eager to see where everyone was in their journeys and get some tips. In the back of his head, he had been contemplating catching more Pokémon than just making his Pikachu do all of the work. It wasn't fair to her, he figured.

He may soon get that chance...


	9. Words

**AN: There's so many characters _ its a little hard to keep track of nine Pokedex Holders, but I can do it. Let me know if you find any inconsistencies with them, such as typos or them having the wrong Pokemon. And no, I will NOT give any hints about Red. I'm not even sure if I've completely killed him off yet, but chances are it is VERY likely that he is dead.**

* * *

Pokémon Z Version

Chapter 9

Words

Orange stepped into the large room, amazed by all of the technology surrounding the walls. His feet sank into luxurious, bright orange carpet that felt amazing even with his shoes on. In fact, it felt so wondrous, he felt the need to take his shoes off as to not track dirt all around the beautiful carpet.

"Wow, this place is really cool" Orange said to himself.

Chuey's eyes sparkled as thoughts about food flooded her mind. "Just think of all the food they have here..."

Orange suddenly felt his stomach growl and he groaned. "I guess I could go for some food too."

"Ah, très bien! The last trainer has finally arrived!" a tall man with open arms and a soothing voice said as he approached him.

Orange looked over at the black haired man and groaned. "Oh great, more language that I don't understand."

The tall, nice-looking man shook his hand vigorously, overjoyed to meet him. "You must be Orange! Its such a pleasure to meet you! I'm Professor Sycamore, but mostly everyone calls me the Pokémon Professor."

"Its nice to meet you too" he smiled up at him. "This is my friend, Pikachu, but I call her Chuey."

Chuey waved at him and smiled. "Oooh, he's handsome!"

"No he's not" Orange communicated with her through telepathy, having had his powers grow stronger.

"I bet you find him hot" Chuey snickered.

Orange shrugged his shoulders and said "Eh, he's okay, I guess" through telepathy.

Professor Sycamore started walking towards the elevator at the front of the room. "S'il vous plaît, come this way. Everyone is upstairs waiting for you."

"E- Everyone?" Orange stammered. His eyes lit up at the thought of seeing everyone, but specifically, they lit up for seeing Shauna again. He entered the elevator and stood with Professor Sycamore as the it went up for a few brief seconds.

The doors opened up to reveal the smiling faces of eight children, six of which he knew and two he had never seen before in his life. He immediately ran over to his friends and started talking with them.

"Hey, guys! I feel like its been forever since I've seen you all!" he smiled.

Serena smiled at him. "Hey there, neighbor! Glad to see you could make it!"

Shauna hugged him as tight as she possibly could and he hugged her back this time, finding it much easier. "Oooh I missed you so much!" she said, squeezing the heck out of him.

"Haha, I missed you too" Orange giggled. He then looked over to his sister, Amber, and smirked. "Hey, sis, how've you been?"

Amber scoffed and waved him off. "Better than you, that's for sure" she teased.

"Hey Orange!" Tierno smiled. "You seen any good Pokémon moves lately?"

"Oh you wouldn't _believe _what I've seen!" Orange smiled. "There was this huge bat-"

Professor Sycamore cleared his throat. "Ahem. Not to interrupt, but there is still one more thing we need to take care of before we get started!" He took out three Poké Balls and raised them high in the air, pointing the buttons down at Orange.

"What is it?" Orange tilted his head.

"Avoir à vous! A Pokémon battle! Your opponent shall be me!" Professor Sycamore smiled.

"What? Really?"

Sycamore nodded. "Yes! Everyone else has already battled me. I'm curious to see where you're at in your journey!"

Orange smirked and Chuey jumped off his shoulder. "Alright then, we're ready!"

Professor Sycamore grinned and called out his first Pokémon, an odd-looking green, plant Pokémon with a bulb on its back. Orange immediately took notice of this and smiled.

"Oh! That's a Bulbasaur! A Grass type Pokémon, so you know what that means, Chuey."

Chuey looked back at her trainer and nodded confidently. "Oh yeah! No Electric type attacks!"

Everyone looked on at them as the battle began with both trainers calling orders.

"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!"

"Chuey, dodge!"

Bulbasaur released two thick vines from its bulb and whipped at Chuey. She jumped from side to side, dodging each of the ferocious whips from the vines.

Orange thought to himself as he watched his friend easily dodge the attack. "It'd be kind of cool if she could grab those vines as Bulbasaur retracted them and pull off an Iron Tail with the momentum..."

Suddenly, Pikachu felt something from her trainer as she quickly grabbed Bulbasaur's vines as he retracted them and used the force of the pullback to smack it hard in the face with an Iron Tail attack. Bulbasaur flew back into the wall, cracking it a little from the force. Everyone's jaws dropped to the ground as they had never seen something that clever happen in battle.

"That's amazing..." Tierno said in awe.

"How did they do that?" Shauna asked.

Professor Sycamore turned back to Bulbasaur with a concerned look. "Bulbasaur, are you okay?!"

Bulbasaur, with a low roar, slowly got up and eyed his opponent weakly.

Orange looked at Chuey for a second, baffled at how she pulled off exactly what he was thinking. Then, something came to his mind. "Wait, Chuey, can you hear my thoughts?" he thought in his head.

Chuey looked back at him and nodded. "Yep, sure can, boss!"

"That's incredible!" he thought again. "Although I should probably keep shouting orders... It seems a little unfair to use nothing but telepathy."

Chuey sighed and nodded once again. "Alright, fine, boss, but I'm telling you, what we just did was pretty awesome."

Orange smirked and called out another attack. "Chuey, finish it off with Thunder Punch!"

Chuey's fist crackled with electricity as she charged her opponent and jabbed him in the gut with a powerful punch made of electricity, causing him to be knocked out.

Professor Sycamore quickly returned his Bulbasaur, thanking him for his services. His next choice of Pokémon was a blue, turtle-like Pokémon with a swirly tail.

The identity of the Pokémon quickly clicked in Orange's head and registered as a Squirtle. "A Water type!" he said aloud.

"Hey, boss?" Chuey said, turning around to her trainer.

"Yeah?"

"I think Water types are weak against Steel type attacks!"

Orange tilted his head in curiosity. "Really? Well, let's find out! Chuey, use Iron Tail!"

Chuey jumped up and smacked her opponent straight in the face with a tail as hard as iron, but he didn't seem to budge one bit.

Professor Sycamore folded his arms in disappointment. "You come at me with such clever in the first move and now you come with this? Je ne comprende pas. You'll have to do better than that to defeat Squirtle. Use Water Gun!"

Squirtle blasted a torrent of water from its mouth that pushed Chuey back right into Orange's gut. The two flew back onto the ground, but quickly got up, shaking the water off of them and seeing how wrong they were.

Chuey hung her head in embarrassment and shook a little more water off her. "I'm so sorry! I thought for sure Water types were weak against Electric type attacks!"

Orange knelt down and kissed Chuey on her head. She suddenly perked up with a happy smile and felt energized. "Its okay, Chuey. We all make mistakes. Let's get at them with Thunder Punch and see if that works!"

Chuey nodded at her trainer, feeling his confidence emanate from him and charged with a powerful Thunder Punch at Squirtle. She delivered a mean right hook with the attack that sent Squirtle flying across the battlefield. From the looks of it, it was already defeated before it hit the ground.

Professor Sycamore quickly returned Squirtle, but with a satisfied smile. "So it seems that through trial and error, you were able to defeat Squirtle and figure out that Electric type moves work well against Water types... Très bon!" He called out his next Pokémon, a red, lizard-like Pokémon with a flame on its tail.

Orange folded his arms and smirked. "A Fire type? I think all of our attacks are neutral against it."

Chuey nodded in agreement. Orange looked at her and saw that she was growing tired from using Thunder Punch. Even though the Electricity wasn't being channeled through her still bruised cheeks, an attack like that took a lot out of her. He could feel her exhaustion and wanted to switch out, but he knew he couldn't.

"Chuey, let's hold off on the Thunder Punches" he said.

Chuey breathed a big sigh of relief and smiled at him. "Wow, thanks, boss! I was starting to get a little tired."

Orange sighed, seeing that he was right in calling off using the move Thunder Punch. "Let's hurry and end this with Iron Tail!"

Chuey charged at Charmander with a tail cloaked in iron and slapped at it, but it countered with an Ember attack, scolding Chuey with burning hot balls of fire. She jumped back in pain and yelped as the embers burned her.

"Chuey!" Orange screamed. "Are you okay?!"

Chuey looked back and smiled, trying to reassure her trainer that she was feeling fine, but suddenly fire engulfed her body for a brief second and she screamed.

"Chuey, what's wrong?!" Orange could feel his breaths become staggered.

Professor Sycamore sighed. "Your Chuey is under the Burn condition. She'll be periodically burned and her attack is cut in half."

Orange gasped and began thinking frantically on what he should do. He couldn't call out for Thunder Shock because her cheeks were still bruised and there was no guarantee she even remembered the move.

Chuey looked back at her trainer for orders and he froze in his place.

"Oh no, this is bad..." Serena said. "With Burn cutting Chuey's attack in half, she's really in a tight spot."

Shauna looked on at the battle with such worry and concern that it made her shiver a little. "What can they do now?"

Serena shook her head. "Not much, that's for sure."

Amber sighed and turned her back to the battle. "Well, that's my brother for you. He still has some things to learn."

Orange froze in his place with his fists locked, unable to think of an order to call out. This was the first time he felt a fear as great as this when it came to losing a battle. He looked at Chuey and saw how hurt and scared she was as well, which only made him tense up even more.

"Come on, Orange! Do something!" Shauna yelled. "Do a Thunder Punch! Hit them with a Quick Attack! Don't just stand there, do something!"

Shauna's words echoed in his head, unable to even begin to try and register them as actual sentences. His mouth tried to open, but it felt glued shut.

"Charmander, use Scratch!" Professor Sycamore finally called out, deciding to end the battle.

Charmander roared and charged at her opponent, vigorously scratching her over and over again as she cried out in pain and was smacked around by the sharp claws. Coupled with her burn made for a horrible experience that the two of them would never forget as Charmander ended the attack with a slap of its tail, sending Chuey flying past Orange and into the wall, effectively defeating her. Orange could only look over in horror as his best friend was laying there unconscious, bruised and broken. He slowly broke from his state of shock and walked over to Chuey, holding him in his arms and apologizing over and over again for what happened. But she couldn't hear him.

Professor Sycamore knelt down next to Orange and let out a disappointed sigh. "It looks like you're just a little bit behind everyone else. You know, you're the only trainer here today that I had trouble with?"

Orange looked up at him with tears in his eyes and scowled at him. "Yeah, that really helps!" he barked at him.

"You didn't let me finish" he sighed. "You're clever. And I know you're a Child of the Viridian Forest. Never would a Pokémon be able to do what your Chuey did unless their thoughts were literally connected like yours. Venez maintenant, let me heal your Pokémon."

Orange kissed Chuey on her head and returned her to her Poké Ball. Professor Sycamore took it, but he eyed Orange a little funny. "Don't you want your other Pokémon healed too?"

Orange felt a cold feeling go down his spine. "What do you mean?"

Professor Sycamore pointed to a second Poké Ball latched onto the side of his belt. "You have more than one Pokémon, it would seem. Why didn't you switch out your Chuey?"

Orange's eyes floated down to the indeed occupied Poké Ball latched onto his waist that he tried so hard to forget. He quickly covered the ball with his hands and took offense. "Its just an empty Poké Ball, that's all!"

"Is that an Ae-"

"Professor, please! My Pikachu needs to be healed" he begged, quickly changing the subject. Professor Sycamore took out a orange spray bottle and sprayed Chuey with it. She slowly began to wake up and her wounds went away.

"There, she should be feeling better soon" he smiled as he handed Chuey back to him.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Hey, Orange, right?" a shaggy haired boy said as he approached him. Oddly, he wore the same clothes Orange had bought not too long ago. If they had the same hair color, they could be matching twins.

Orange looked up at the boy as he knelt down to him and smiled. "Yeah, that's right. Are another one of the Pokédex Holders?"

The boy nodded his head and held out his hand. "I'm Calem, from Vaniville Town."

"Vaniville? I'm from there too!" Orange shook the boy's hand. "Well, we just moved there, really. Me and my sister."

"Wow" Calem smiled. "Me and my sister just moved there too!"

"What a coincidence" Orange laughed. "So how come you weren't with us when we all went to Aquacorde Town?"

Calem tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean? I was there. Didn't you see me?"

Orange shook his head. "Nope. It was just me, Amber, Shauna, S-"

"Serena, Tierno, and Trevor, yeah, I was there!" Calem suddenly interrupted.

Orange was a little surprised at the fact that Calem interrupted and literally stole the words right out of his mouth. "That's exactly what-"

"I was going to say…" Calem finished his sentence and the two sat there, shocked.

"Ahem, children!" Professor Sycamore cleared his throat. "We must be moving on!"

Everyone gathered at the Professor's desk and stood, waiting for him to being his monologue. The Professor put his hands in his pockets and casually leaned back on his desk.

"So why are we here, Professor?" a boy with fiery red hair, a white t-shirt, and black shorts asked.

"Ah, good question, Adrien!" the Professor smiled. "Well first, I'd like to say merci beaucoup à tous for being able to come here! Although, I don't quite recognize a few of you, more faces are always welcome. Be the best trainers you can be and have fun traveling with your Pokémon!"

Periwinkle groaned and folded his arms in boredom. "So is that all you called us here for?"

The Professor shook his head and chuckled. "Patience now, Periwinkle. I'm getting to my point here. What I really called you all here today is for a second request I wish to ask you all. I would like your help in uncovering this region's biggest mystery: Mega Evolution!"

This peaked all of the trainers' curiosity as they felt a wave of excitement rush through them.

"Mega Evolution? What's that?" Amber asked, seeming more intrigued than the others at a potential gain in power.

"Mega Evolution is a new kind of evolution that occurs in battle. It allows Pokémon to evolve again during a battle and then return to their normal form once its over" the Professor explained. "So let's say a Charizard were to be in battle, no? It could evolve one stage further for that battle and gain tremendous power, all while being able to return to its regular form once the battle is over!"

"Whoa!" Shauna and Orange both gasped.

"Where do we go to find a power like this?" Amber asked.

Professor Sycamore thought to himself for a second. He seemed to recall an old, rustic-like town but couldn't quite remember the name of it. "I believe its Camphrier Town? It has a lot of history to it and its worth checking out.

Amber picked up her backpack and started for the door. "Well then, I guess its settled" she said.

"What do you mean?" Orange turned back to look at her.

"I'm going to Camphrier Town, what does it look like?"

Serena picked up her backpack and followed her. "I'm coming with you. Besides, I need to talk to you about something. Meet me a Café Soleil, would you?"

Amber nodded and the two boarded the elevator, barely even bidding anyone there so much as a good-bye.

Trevor then also started for the elevator. "I think I'm going to go to Route 5 to see what kinds of Pokémon there are to be added to the Pokédex. I'll see you all later!"

Tierno followed close behind. "I'll help you out with that" he said as the two boarded the elevator and left.

Orange turned to Shauna and sighed. "So what are you going to do now?"

Shauna thought to herself and snapped her fingers, coming up with an idea. "I'm gonna try and catch up with Trevor and Tierno! Maybe I'll find some cute Pokémon." She ran to the elevator and boarded it, waving bye at the four remaining trainers.

Orange shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I guess that just leaves us fou-"

Peri quickly turned to everyone and giggled. "I bet you three I'll be the first to make it to Camphrier Town!"

Adrien scoffed. "In your dreams, little kid. Me and my Charmander will blaze right through Route 5!"

"Oh yeah? Well me and Mawile will rip straight through Route 5!" Calem joined in, oddly saying something identical to what Orange would say.

Orange, not being able to think of anything better to say, clenched his fists and joined in with them. "Count me in too!"

The four bolted towards the elevator, but Orange was suddenly stopped by Professor Sycamore. "Excuse me, Orange" he said. "Can you stay behind a little bit?"

Calem, Adrien, and Peri all boarded the elevator and made funny faces at Orange as the doors closed.

Orange turned back to Professor Sycamore who was now standing upright. He walked over and put a friendly hand on Orange's shoulder. "Orange, you have a special power within you. The world may not understand what it means or what its like to be a Child of the Viridian Forest. You can do one of two things: you can accept this as a blessing and help the world, or you can make the world your enemy for the wrongdoing it may do to you. The choice is yours."

Professor Sycamore's words hit him like a bullet train. He wasn't exactly expecting the man that was supposed to be a mentor to him to say that the entire world could be made your enemy. Still, however, the Professor had a point. The world may not be ready to understand something like Orange. He could remember all of the teasing he received from his neighbors about his mother.

Not knowing what to say, Orange just nodded at the Professor and quickly made his way towards the elevator and out of the lab as fast as possible. The fresh, warm air revitalized him after bearing the awkward situation inside. He looked around and saw none of his friends in sight, which must have meant that they already went ahead.

Chuey jumped up onto his shoulder and pointed down the busy sidewalk. "Onwards!"

"Hey, what happened to boss?" Orange groaned.

"You're only my boss in battle!" Chuey laughed. "Now come on! We're gonna lose!"

Orange chuckled and started running down the sidewalk through the sea of tall people, not hindered by the fear he felt earlier. As he tore through the crowd, a sharp, tingling feeling went down his spine as he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He felt something horrible, like a strong power, call out to him. Not looking back, he could feel the presence of a tall, regal-looking man with fiery orange hair in an expensive suit.

"You there, child" a voice called out to him using telepathy.

Orange closed his eyes and breathed deeply. As his eyes shut closed, he could see a faint vision of a Pokémon in its Poké Ball attached to the man's waist. "Who's there?" he called out into the crowd with telepathy.

"Orange de Viridian Grove, the boy who burns so brightly at the center of time, space, life, and destruction… I am Pyroar, of the Ancient Myriad" the voice introduced itself.

"What do you mean _burn so brightly_?"

"Child of the Viridian Forest, I ask you today to help make this world beautiful. Rid it of those who are filled with hate. Those who don't understand. Your powers may be beyond humans' understanding, but they are not beyond mine. This world is disgusting, filled with the ignorance of these humans. But you are different, Child. The hatred the world will show an alien like you is inevitable. When the time is right, you will be presented with a choice to join our cause or stay with the filth of this world. Please, join us."

Before Orange could formulate a response, the voice quickly faded away. These words stunned him more than Professor Sycamore's words. "Chuey, did you hear that?"

Chuey turned to him and nodded. "Yeah, I did" she shook a little. "Pretty creepy."

"You're telling me" Orange shook his head. "At least my powers got stronger, but yeesh. I may not be able to sleep tonight."

"Eh, I'm sure you'll find a way" Chuey giggled. "Now come on! Hurry to Route 5! We're going to lose! Plus, we need to find Gogoat's grandson!"

"Oh!" Orange's face lit up with excitement. "That's right! Let's get to it!"


End file.
